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Colombian Troops Begin Retaking Rebel-Held Territory
Pubdate: Sat, 23 Feb 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Section: International
Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Juan Forero
COLOMBIAN TROOPS BEGIN RETAKING REBEL-HELD TERRITORY
FLORENCIA, Colombia, Feb. 22 -- Elite government troops landed by
helicopter today inside a swath of southern jungle that President Andres
Pastrana ceded to Marxist rebels three years ago as a safe haven so peace
talks could take place. The soldiers were the first of thousands expected
as the army works to retake the zone now that Mr. Pastrana has broken off
the talks.
The soldiers occupied a former military base just outside San Vicente del
Caguan, one of five towns north of here that had been in the hands of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (known by its Spanish acronym, FARC)
since 1998.
Hundreds of troops have also entered the eastern end of the zone, while
thousands more waited outside the former rebel enclave for orders to enter.
The overall size of the government force is estimated at 12,000.
"We are now in the zone; we now control the zone," one elated soldier told
Colombian television as he walked the streets outside San Vicente.
But although most of the guerrillas responded to the offensive by
disappearing into the jungle, some shot at helicopters this morning,
hitting three aircraft and wounding two soldiers and a pilot, Gen. Fernando
Tapias, chief of the armed forces, told reporters at the Defense Ministry
in Bogota this morning. He suggested that the takeover of the region would
be slow, since the military was wary of anti-personnel mines on the roads
and the possibility of rebel ambushes.
The offensive came two days after Mr. Pastrana, furious about the rebel
hijacking of a domestic airliner early this week and the kidnapping of a
senior senator who was a passenger, announced in a nationally televised
address that he was ending the troubled peace process. Soon after his
speech, air force planes began bombarding rebel encampments and storage
depots inside the zone, which is about twice the size of El Salvador.
The offensive has raised concerns among rights groups and some foreign
diplomats, as reports have surfaced of civilians hurt and killed in the
attacks. About 100,000 people live in the former rebel zone.
"The military objectives are not apparent, since the FARC is not in the
region anymore," said Marco Romero, who works with Codhes, an advocacy
group for people displaced by violence. "It is probable there are civilians
living there or at least close to the zones that were bombed."
General Hector Velasco, the air force chief, said that warplanes were being
careful to go after only "military targets and narcotrafficking network
targets." But he acknowledged that the bombing could not be precise in all
circumstances.
"Unfortunately accidents can happen," he told reporters today, noting that
hundreds of sorties had been conducted. The International Committee of the
Red Cross said it had transported five wounded civilians today to the San
Vicente Hospital, along with three bodies. The victims had come from a
jungle hamlet called El Rubi, where some of the bombing apparently took place.
James LeMoyne, the United Nations special envoy to Colombia, said that he
had received "reports of civilian casualties, civilian deaths, wounded
people who cannot be attended in outlying areas and hundreds, maybe
thousands of people, being displaced."
Mr. LeMoyne also said the United Nations was concerned that, with the
departure of the rebels, rightist paramilitary groups would enter the zone
and kill civilians. The paramilitaries -- outlawed militias that human
rights groups accuse of collaborating with the army -- have often killed
shopkeepers, local officials and others they have accused of collaborating
with rebels.
"The people of the zone were not consulted on the creation of the zone,"
Mr. LeMoyne said, "but they participated in it and it's unfair that they
now be punished for a decision that was not their own."
Colombian officials, meanwhile, say the guerrillas have been busy across
the country, setting off bombs an electrical installation in the south and
a gas pipeline in the north. Many Colombians, while supporting Mr.
Pastrana's decision to break off talks, feared that the rebels might embark
on terror bombings in the largest cities, which have been spared much of
the violence that has plagued the countryside.
Fears have also spread beyond Colombia about the possible spillover of
violence. The Ecuadorean president, Gustavo Noboa, has declared a state of
emergency in one northern province bordering Colombia, which will allow the
central government in Quito to release funds quickly in case of a crisis.
In Brazil and Venezuela, the governments announced that troops along
Colombia's border had been placed on alert.
The rebels have neither denied nor taken responsibility for the various
attacks, but they have blamed Mr. Pastrana for the rupture in the talks.
Today they said in a statement that they would still be willing to
negotiate, but only with the winner of the presidential election in May.
Mr. Pastrana is constitutionally barred from re-election.
Rebel activities and pronouncements have drawn little but scorn from most
Colombians and the international community, which in the past has played a
vigorous role in trying to keep the troubled peace process alive.
Those familiar with the rebel group said it was hard to believe that the
top leaders in the organization had no advance knowledge of the hijacking
this week. The guerrilla commandos who took over the plane are members of
the Teofilo Forero front, which is led by Joaquin Gomez, a key rebel
negotiator.
"There is no way a high-level operation of this kind was committed without
the direct knowledge of the secretariat," said a diplomat who has spoken
with rebel leaders several times.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell told reporters today that Washington
supported Mr. Pastrana's decision to retake the zone.
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