SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, Colombia?Colombia’s government and main leftist rebel group agreed Monday to resume peace talks, diplomats and a U.N. envoy said, overcoming an impasse that threatened to plunge the country into a new round of fighting.

France’s Ambassador to Colombia, Daniel Parfait, read a statement saying the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, had dropped its objections to returning to peace talks that were paralyzed since October.

He said President Andres Pastrana had signed off on the agreement, reached with the help of a U.N. envoy, Catholic Church delegates and ambassadors from 10 countries.

The government had earlier set a deadline of 9:30 p.m. for rebels to agree to resume the peace process or troops would move to retake their safe haven in southern Colombia.