Reuters. 11 January 2002. UN Envoy Seeks to Save Colombia Talks as War Looms.
BOGOTA -- A United Nations peace envoy flew into a FARC rebel enclave on Friday in a last-ditch attempt to stop Colombia spiraling into all-out war when a Saturday night deadline expires. If U.N. envoy James LeMoyne fails to extract FARC concessions to save three-year old peace talks by 9:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, then the rebels have until the same time on Monday to vacate their enclave before an army offensive. FARC commanders said they were optimistic. But analysts and diplomats were doubtful the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- known by the Spanish initials FARC -- would agree to drop their categorical demands for an end to security controls and surveillance around their territory. The military has already massed tanks and men on the borders of the Switzerland-sized demilitarized zone which President Andres Pastrana gave the FARC in late 1998 at the start of peace talks to end a war now 38 years old. Many Colombians fear that if talks with the FARC are definitively broken, the rebels will go on the offensive. "I'm not bringing any formula of salvation for the process. What I have are ideas and suggestions, from various sectors, to discuss with the FARC," LeMoyne, an American former journalist, told reporters as he left for the rebel enclave. A senior FARC commander, Carlos Antonio Lozada, welcomed the prospect of meeting LeMoyne, telling reporters: "The FARC is sure that sanity and common sense will prevail." The 17,000-strong FARC, which is fighting for land reform and a socialist state has refused to start negotiating a cease-fire while its security concerns remain unaddressed. The army says it is ready to retake the five main towns in the tropical cattle country and jungle that makes up the enclave. But the guerrillas of Latin America's oldest insurgency would likely melt into the thick bush of the territory they have effectively controlled for decades. In a sinister hint of things to come, the main paramilitary group -- the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia, or "AUC" -- issued a statement saying it was ready to take on the FARC. "Wherever Colombia needs us to confront the vile challenge of the FARC, the Self-Defense Forces will be there," it said. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
