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Red Cross calls on Colombia govt, rebels to set up handover of
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10:07, July 10, 2007 |
The International Red Cross on Monday called on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government to cooperate to return the bodies of 11 lawmakers killed on June 18 to their families.
Each side had blamed the other for the deaths, which occurred when the Colombian army attempted to rescue the lawmakers, who had been held hostage by the FARC since 2002.
The International Red Cross said,"in the interest of the families of the victims and the success of the operation, it needs to be carried out in a confidential and discreet manner before all the interested parties."
Yves Heller, spokesman for the Colombia Red Cross, told the media that the Colombian government has also given its approval for efforts to recover the bodies of the 11.
Heller insists that the FARC must guarantee the security of the team to handle the repatriation of the bodies.
Fabiola Perdomo, widow of lawmaker Juan Carlos Narvaez, said that she had met the Red Cross which told her of the rebel's willingness to return the bodies.
The FARC has demanded the withdrawal of troops from the area where the politicians died before the returning the bodies.
The lawmakers were kidnapped on April 11, 2002, by rebels who triggered the evacuation of the regional assembly in the southeastern department of Valle de Cauca by faking a bomb threat.
The 17,000-strong FARC held a total of 56 hostages, including a French-Colombian former presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt, and three Americans.
The country has been locked in a civil conflict between government and the leftist guerrillas since the mid-sixties, the longest in Latin America. The conflict kills more than 3,000 people every year.
Source: Xinhua
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