Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Marxist rebel leader Timochenko used a pen made from a bullet on Monday to sign an agreement ending a half-century war that killed a quarter of a million people and made their nation a byword for violence.

After four years of negotiations in Havana, Santos, 65, and Timochenko - a nom de guerre for 57-year-old revolutionary Rodrigo Londono - shook hands on Monday on Colombian soil for the first time.

Some 2,500 foreign and local dignitaries attended the ceremony in the walled, colonial city of Cartagena.

The agreement to end Latin America's longest-running conflict turns the FARC fighters into a political party fighting at the ballot box instead of the battlefield they have occupied since 1964.

The special pen was used "to illustrate the transition of bullets into education and future", said Santos, who staked his reputation on achieving peace.

(Al Jazeera)