Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Sunday made a televised call for the Red Cross to be allowed to visit hostages held by the country's largest rebel group.
The call came two days after he publicly stated conditions for a hoped-for hostage release.
"We ask that the Red Cross be allowed into the places where the hostages are being held in order to stop their condition from deteriorating," Uribe told television cameras from Bogota's international airport, where he was boarding a flight to Argentina.
Uribe had earlier said he wanted the the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to come unarmed to a thinly populated area around 150 square km in size for the hostage exchange. He said the Catholic Church had agreed to manage the area, without government assistance, should the FARC agree.
Red Cross spokesman Yves Heller told press separately that the organization was willing to visit the hostages.
"We are in contact with the FARC to do so, but to date we have not received the green light," he said.
During the same broadcast, Uribe called on rebels to take government money from a new 100 million U.S. dollars fund, set up to pay
Last month the government released videos of kidnapped victims including three American military contractors captured in 2003. One showed Ingrid Betancourt, a 2002 Colombian presidential candidate who also has French citizenship and was kidnapped by the FARC during the campaign.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article