Colombian Presidential Candidates Willing to Negotiate With Rebels

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, February 24, 2002

Colombian Presidential Candidates Willing to Negotiate With Rebels

Colombian presidential candidates said they would resume peace talks with the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) if they win the job,the local Caracol radio reported on Saturday.

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Colombian presidential candidates said they would resume peace talks with the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) if they win the job,the local Caracol radio reported on Saturday.

But they said at the same time that they would resume the peacetalks under new conditions.

The candidates were responding to a 13-point communique of the 16,500-strong FARC in which the rebels said they might resume the peace process with a future government that "shows interest in returning to the path toward a political solution to social and armed conflict."

Horacio Serpa Uribe of the major opposition Liberal Party, who is considered the strongest contender in the May elections, insisted that he would never in future negotiations cede a demilitarized zone to FARC, the largest guerrilla group in the country, as the administration of President Andres Pastrana did.

"I keep on favoring a political solution. I'll be very tough," said the former interior minister.

Luis Eduardo Garzon of the left-wing Social and Political Frontsaid the willingness expressed by FARC to "exchange and discuss the Common Agenda with a future government" showed the possibilities to go back to dialogue.

"In the height of war, FARC's declaration has turned into a rayof light to reestablish dialogue and political negotiation," he said.

Noemi Sanin of the Colombian Si party said she was prepared to negotiate again with FARC "but in a conditioned peace process, with firmness and clarity."

Sanin said she would negotiate with FARC in the absence of a neutral enclave, which, she said, was used by the rebels to prepare for war and attack Colombians.

The candidate from the ruling Conservative Party, Juan Camilo Restrepo, made it clear that he would hold talks with the guerrillas on the condition that the intensity of conflict is reduced.

Restrepo said if FARC accepted a total demobilization, he wouldagree to negotiate with FARC inside the country. If FARC decided to keep on negotiating amid war, then talks would be held abroad, he said.

President Pastrana announced late Wednesday the suspension of peace talks with FARC after the rebels hijacked a plane and kidnapped a senator.

The military has regained the control of the demilitarized zonein the south which was ceded to FARC three years ago to start the peace process.

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