Colombia's President Gustavo Petro has declared emergency powers to restore order in the coca-growing Catatumbo region amid escalating violence.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Friday issued a decree that gives him emergency powers to respond to an outbreak of deadly violence between rival armed groups in the north-eastern Catatumbo region.

Colombia on Wednesday reinstated arrest warrants for dozens of guerrilla commanders blamed for armed attacks that displaced 32,000 people and sparked the country's most serious security crisis in years.

As deadly violence caused by territorial conflict forces tens of thousands to evacuate northeastern Colombia, the Colombian government reached out to Venezuela in hopes of forming an alliance to quell the violence on the Venezuelan border.