COLOMBIA: Guerrillas belonging to Colombia's largest insurgent group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) started abandoning a huge demilitarised area, 90 miles south of the capital Bogota, on Wednesday night, after the peace process between the government and the rebels broke off abruptly.
Yesterday morning the Colombian air force began bombing FARC camps and airstrips in the area, to prepare the way for the army.
The 18,000-strong Marxist FARC were supposed to be seeking a ceasefire agreement with the government until April 7th, after both parties narrowly managed to keep the peace process alive last month with the help of international diplomats. However, President Andres Pastrana announced on Wednesday that he would no longer negotiate with the rebels, due to their refusal to seek a peaceful way out of the conflict.
In an angry television address to the nation, Mr Pastrana said the FARC had delivered a "slap in the face" to the Colombian people by continuing bombings and murders in recent weeks. The latest incident, which appeared to bring about Mr Pastrana's decision, was the FARC's hijacking of a civilian aeroplane, which members of the group diverted from its course so as to kidnap the president of the Senate peace commission.
"We can't sign agreements with a group that is putting a rifle to the heads of innocent people," Mr Pastrana said. "We are tired of the hypocrisy of the guerrillas." The Switzerland-sized demilitarised zone was set up in January 1999, in a bid to foster talks between the government and the FARC, with the aim of bringing to an end a conflict that has lasted almost 40 years.
However, although the FARC has sat down to talk with the government during the last three years, the peace process has barely progressed and the government blames the group for carrying out murders, kidnappings and drug trafficking within the zone.
Several thousand Colombian army troops are now moving into the area, while the rebels have abandoned San Vicente, the zone's largest town, to escape the government military.
A hundred thousand civilians live in the demilitarised zone and many are expected to flee in fear of right-wing paramilitaries, who are likely to carry out reprisals against inhabitants for their contact with the guerrillas.
