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DATE=10/01/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT (L)

NUMBER=2-267321

TITLE=COLOMBIA COMBAT

BYLINE=GREG FLAKUS

DATELINE=BOGOTA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

Intro: Military officials in Colombia report fighting on several fronts Sunday, resulting in more than two dozen deaths. As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from the Colombian capital of Bogota, the fighting comes at a time when US military personnel are set to play a larger role in the embattled South American nation.

TEXT: The main combat zone for the past three weeks is only a few hours drive south of Bogota, where Colombian soldiers have been taking back a wilderness area that has been used by guerrillas for a decade. Last week, soldiers found a 100-kilometer-long road cut along the steep hillsides that they believe was being used as a supply route for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish initials as the FARC.

The 16 thousand square-kilometer area known as Sumapaz lies between Bogota and the main rebel-controlled area to the south and is aimed, in the words of the Bogota newspaper El Tiempo, "like a spear point" at the capital. The military operation comes at a time of increasing involvement in Colombia of US troops who are here to train soldiers on anti-narcotics operations. But the line between the war on drugs and the war against the guerrillas is sometimes blurred since the rebels obtain financial support from "taxes" they impose on cocaine producers.

Last week the FARC command warned that US soldiers found in the areas of conflict would be considered military targets. The FARC statement said that some US military personnel are already located in places very close to where recent heavy fighting has taken place. A statement issued by the US Southern Command says US soldiers in Colombia are not involved in counterinsurgency and arein the words of the statement"limited strictly to counter-drug and training activities."

In July, the US Congress approved one-point-three billion dollars in funding for the Clinton administration's "Plan Colombia," which will provide military hardware and training to this conflictive nation to help fight drug production and smuggling. Under the terms of the plan, up to 500 US military advisors could be assigned to Colombia to help train special anti-drug battalions. A recent Gallup poll conducted here for the Semana magazine showed 56 percent of Colombians favor US military intervention in their country. But critics of "Plan Colombia" in the United States have warned that Washington may be about to embark on a dangerous road to what they call "another Vietnam." More than 35 thousand people have died in Colombia's internal conflict over the past decade. (signed).

NEB/GF/PFH