Pubdate: Tue, 29 Aug 2000
Source: Reuters
Copyright: 2000 Reuters Limited.
Author: Steve Holland
Bookmark: additional articles on Colombia are available at 
http://www.mapinc.org/latin.htm

CLINTON TRIES TO SOOTHE CONCERNS OVER COLOMBIA AID

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton, on the eve of a trip to Colombia, 
tried on Tuesday to soothe any concerns among Colombians that a $1.3 
billion anti-drug plan marked growing U.S. intervention in that country.

Clinton's trip comes as U.S. military advisers have begun training two 
special army battalions that will protect Colombian police missions to 
destroy drug plantations and labs in guerrilla-controlled areas of southern 
Colombia.

"Please do not misunderstand our purpose," Clinton said in a videotaped 
message to the Colombian people. "We have no military objective. We do not 
believe your conflict has a military solution. We support the peace 
process. Our approach is both pro-peace and anti-drug."

Colombia's main rebel forces and key labor organizations have condemned the 
U.S. plan, much of which consists of military aid to help the Andean nation 
fight drugs and guerrillas. They said the aid signaled growing U.S. 
intervention that could inflame Colombia's three-decade-old conflict.

Clinton said the United States was only contributing to Colombia's own $7.5 
billion plan for fighting drugs.

"Let me be clear about the role of the United States," he said. "First, it 
is not for us to propose a plan. We are supporting the Colombian plan. You 
are leading. We are providing assistance as a friend and a neighbor."

Clinton last week waived human rights conditions in order to begin 
releasing the U.S. assistance, a decision that troubled some Democratic 
politicians who had urged the Clinton administration to use the conditions 
as a way to pressure Colombia into improving its human rights record.

Human rights organizations complain that Colombian military officers who 
have committed serious abuses are routinely acquitted and that dozens of 
prominent human rights cases go unsolved.

No Aid For Those Linked To Abuses

Clinton said the U.S. package provides human rights training for the 
Colombian military and police, and denies U.S. assistance to any units of 
the Colombian security forces involved in human rights abuses or linked to 
abuses committed by paramilitary forces.

"Today's world has no place and no patience for any group that attacks 
defenseless citizens or resorts to kidnapping and extortion," Clinton said.

"Those who seek legitimacy in Colombian society must meet the standards of 
those who confer legitimacy, the good and decent people of Colombia," he said.

Clinton said the United States was working to reduce the demand in America 
for illegal drugs, but that the problem also had to be confronted at its 
source.

He said the U.S. aid would help train and equip Colombia's anti-drug units 
to protect the national police as they eradicate illicit drug crops and 
destroy drug labs.

"We will help the Colombian military improve their ability to intercept 
traffickers before they leave Colombia. We will target illegal airstrips, 
money-laundering and criminal organizations," he said.

A Gallup survey in Colombia released on Monday said 56 percent of 
respondents favored U.S. military intervention to resolve the 35-year-old 
conflict that has cost more than 35,000 lives in the past decade alone, 
although 76 percent said such a move would be tantamount to U.S. meddling 
in another country's internal affairs.

Clinton, just back from a trip to Nigeria, Tanzania and Egypt, will hold 
formal talks with Colombian President Andres Pastrana and have lunch with 
him in the Caribbean resort of Cartagena during his day-long visit to 
Colombia on Wednesday.

The president will also inspect drug interdiction efforts in the Port of 
Cartagena and meet members of the Colombian national police and talk to 
widows of police officers killed in the line of duty. 
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