----- Original Message -----
From: Pakito Arriaran <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2000 3:23 PM
Subject: MLL: INDEPENDENT: Cook wants pounds 1bn aid for Colombian "killers"
| =================================================
| "The Colombian Army are the people Amnesty
| International and the American State Department
| described as the true forces behind military death
| squads," he said. SAS troopers also provided
| training for Colombian units.
| ___________________ =================================================
| THE INDEPENDENT [London]
|
| Tuesday, 20 June 2000
|
| Cook wants pounds 1bn aid for Colombian "killers"
| -------------------------------------------------
|
| By Fran Abrams
|
| PLANS TO put up to pounds 150m of British aid money into a project
| supporting a Latin American army that committed at least five massacres
| last year drew a furious response from human rights campaigners yesterday.
|
| Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary, and Mo Mowlam, the Cabinet Office
| Minister, are leading talks aimed at persuading the European Union to put
| pounds 1bn of its aid budget, 15 per cent of which comes from Britain,
| into "Plan Colombia".
|
| Yesterday Ms Mowlam, who visited Colombia last week, addressed officials
| from donor countries in London in advance of a ministerial summit next
| month on the three-year plan.
|
| The US-backed project's aims are to strengthen human rights and aid
| development, but the campaigners said three-quarters of the money, which
| would also be used to combat drug trafficking, would be used for military
| aid.
|
| At a Commons meeting organised by the Campaign Against Arms Trade, Liam
| Craig -Best, who works with the UK Colombian Refugee Association and human
| rights groups in Colombia, said the army would get most of the money.
|
| "The Colombian Army are the people Amnesty International and the American
| State Department described as the true forces behind military death
| squads," he said. SAS troopers also provided training for Colombian units.
|
| Amnesty International said human rights defenders were subjected to
| "relentless persecution" in Colombia last year. "The armed forces carried
| out disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks resulting in civilian loss
| of life," its annual report said. "The armed forces were also responsible
| for the selective killing of people considered to be guerrilla
| sympathisers or collaborators."
|
| Britain's aid policy says the money it spends should be used to alleviate
| poverty. Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour MP for Islington North, said America's
| motives in organising "Plan Colombia" were not straightforward. "I am very
| suspicious of the massive military involvement of the US and other
| countries," he said. "On the face of it it is about the drugs trade, but
| underneath I think it has more to do with the exploitation of the
| resources of Colombia."
|
| Diplomatic sources said last night a number of "misunderstandings" had
| been addressed at the meeting. While somecountries, including France and
| Italy, had expressed reservations about it, an agreement is possible at
| next month's ministerial meeting in Madrid.
|
| While there were concerns about the human rights record of the Colombian
| army, most people had agreed that there was a genuine need to help support
| the peace process between its government and guerrilla groups.
|
| Mark Bromley, of Campaign Against Arms Trade, said Britain had granted 72
| licences for arms exports to Colombia in the past three years. Arms sales
| to the Colombian government had been worth about pounds 500,000, he said,
| and had included machine-guns, thermal imaging equipment and
| semi-automatic pistols.
|
| "By supporting Plan Colombia, the United Kingdom government is taking a
| very decisive step," he said. "It is seriously undermining the emergence
| of a peaceful resolution to the conflict and is helping to condemn many
| more Colombian people to many more years of war."
|
| Copyright 2000 Newspaper Publishing PLC
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