Military

DATE=02/21/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=COLOMBIA/CONFLICT (L-Only)

NUMBER=2-286704

BYLINE=RHODA METCALFE

DATELINE=BOGOTA

INTERNET=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: In Colombia, the peace process has come to an abrupt end. For three years, the government struggled to make progress toward peace with the country's largest leftist rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. But as Rhoda Metcalfe reports from Bogota, President Andres Pastrana has ended the peace process, following a hijacking and kidnapping by suspected rebels (Wednesday).

TEXT: It was the last straw. The government accused the rebels of hijacking the passenger plane, forcing it to land in the countryside, and abducting a Colombian Senator who was on board. They then whisked the politician into the demilitarized zone -- an area in southern Colombia that the government granted the FARC to advance peace talks.

President Andres Pastrana says, no more.

/// PASTRANA ACT IN SPANISH, ESTABLISH AND FADE ///

Speaking on television, he told Colombians -- quote -- "I have made the decision to no longer continue the peace process with the FARC."

He ordered the army to march back into the demilitarized zone. Local journalists reported that shortly after the announcement, the rebels began abandoning towns in the zone.

The talks had been tenuous for weeks, and the guerrillas appeared prepared to pull out at a moment's notice.

Leaders across Colombia applauded the president.

/// RESTREPO ACT IN SPANISH, ESTABLISH AND FADE UNDER ///

Former Finance-Minister Juan Camilo Restrepo says: "He made the right decision." He says, "Colombians' patience with the guerrillas has run out."

Colombia's 38-year civil war claims more than three-thousand lives a year. Some analysts argue, the rebels must be weakened militarily before they will ever take peace talks seriously. Colombians are now bracing for some potentially explosive months to come. (Signed).

NEB/RM/TW