From: "Stasi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Peoples War] Colombia: Soldiers Killed In FARC Clash - Xinhua 1) Three Colombian Soldiers Killed in Clashes With Rebels 2) Colombian Government Expects Positive Response From Rebels 1) Three Colombian Soldiers Killed in Clashes With Rebels ======================================== Xinhuanet 2002-01-06 11:27:09 BOGOTA, January 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Three Colombian soldiers and an unknown number of guerrillas were killed on Saturday when the army foiled the first massive kidnapping attempt in 2002 in eastern Colombia. General Martin Orlando Carreno, commander of the 2nd Army Division, said the rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) set up a roadblock between the towns of Cano Limonand Arauca in Arauca province and stopped nearly twenty vehicles in the spot. According to the general, three soldiers were killed by landmines when they tried to approach the roadblock. Soldiers finally reached the roadblock and rescued at least 100 people, Carreno said. Enditem 2) Colombian Government Expects Positive Response From Rebels ============================================== Xinhuanet 2002-01-06 11:14:12 BOGOTA, January 5 (Xinhuanet) -- The Colombian government said on Saturday it is expecting positive response from the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which asked for more time to analyze a government proposal to reactivate the stalled peace process. The government and the 16,500-strong FARC concluded two days of talks on Friday amid a bitter dispute over military controls on the rebel-held demilitarized zone in the south of the country which Colombian President Andres Pastrana ceded to the rebels in 1998 to kick off the peace process. Talks were suspended until Monday as the FARC criticized the government for its continuing military air patrols and border restrictions on the neutral zone. The government said, however, the controls were not negotiable. Government negotiators, led by peace commissioner Camilo Gomez, Friday handed over to the FARC a document to seek solutions to the current impasse in the peace process, and it is expected that the leftist rebels would give an answer between Sunday and Monday. Presidential adviser Juan Gabriel Uribe indicated on Saturday that the document contains a proposal that intends to search for a different scenario to reach concrete agreements and to start a "serious negotiation." When speaking to local radio Caracol, Uribe admitted mounting tensions were registered during the meetings in the past two days. The three-year-old peace process is on the verge of failure, Uribe said. Simultaneously, different political sectors from the country backed the official position not to modify military checks on the periphery of the neutral zone. The FARC protested over such remarks and expressed in a communique that in this way "chances to find negotiated solutions are disappearing." The holding of the talks is seen as part of the last-ditch efforts by President Andres Pastrana to make substantive progress toward ending a 37-year-old civil war that has claimed some 40,000lives in the past decade alone. Pastrana's four-year term ends in August and rebel control of the enclave expires on January 20. Enditem _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
