France sends mission to Colombia for Betancourt (2nd Roundup)

Apr 3, 2008, 21:01 GMT

Bogota/Paris - A group including a former French consul and doctors arrived in Colombia early Thursday on a humanitarian mission to provide medical assistance to kidnap victim Ingrid Betancourt.

Former Colombian presidential candidate Betancourt, 46, who holds dual French-Colombian citizenship, was kidnapped by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in February 2002. She is reportedly very ill, suffering from hepatitis B and leishmaniasis, among other health problems.

The French government announced late Wednesday that the mission, also backed by Spain and Switzerland, had begun. The French Air Force plane, a Falcon 50, arrived at the Catam military base in Bogota in the early hours of Thursday.

The mission was reportedly awaiting from the rebels the coordinates of where they could find Betancourt and other sick hostages. FARC have given no indication of their will to cooperate.

Betancourt's ex husband Fabrice Delloye, the father of the woman's two children, told Colombian radio station Caracol from Paris that the delegation includes envoys of the French and Swiss governments, as well as two doctors charged with treating Betancourt.

'We all know that this is a very important mission, and it is only missing contact with FARC. We need discretion in order to guarantee the security of everyone involved,' he said.

Colombian Military Force commander, General Freddy Padilla, said Colombia was willing to provide any additional resources needed to get to the area that the rebels indicate.

'Besides the plane, helicopters or vehicles are needed to get the people who need treatment to the plane,' Padilla said. 'We can provide helicopters so that the mission can get to a certain place in the jungle, of course we would provide them.'

Padilla said a 30-mile radius could be exempt from military operations in order to allow the delegation to move more freely in the jungle.

Ambassadors Andres Collado of Spain, Jean-Michel Marlaud of France and Thomas Kupfer of Switzerland met with Colombia's peace envoy Luis Carlos Restrepo in Bogota to discuss the latest humanitarian effort.

Carlos Lozano, chief editor of the communist weekly Voz and who has regular contact with FARC, said he was 'worried' that the mission has not been agreed to by the rebel group.

'The FARC guerrilla has not been consulted about this. It seems to me that this is not going to work and it will be frustrating, and it will have negative effects,' said Lozano.

The news agency Anncol - also close to FARC - called French President Nicolas Sarkozy 'naive' for launching the mission, which it described as a 'dangerous adventure.'

The French plane has an intensive care unit, machines to carry out blood transfusions and resuscitation, and a small operating theatre.

An aeroplane with medical provisions had been standing by since last weekend to head to Colombia.

Betancourt's son Lorenzo Delloye, who lives in France, made a desperate 'last appeal' on Wednesday to FARC for his mother's release.

FARC is believed to have 740 hostages, and Betancourt is the most high-profile among them. The group has been in talks to exchange 40 of the hostages - soldiers, police officers and politicians - for 500 of their members currently in prison.

Last week, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe reiterated that his government was ready to exchange FARC rebels for Betancourt and other hostages.