COLOMBIA TALKS GET OK

Demobilization Of Ultra-Right Group By End Of '05 Is Goal

BOGOTA -- Leaders of an ultra-right paramilitary army blamed for some of
the worst human rights atrocities in Colombia's violence-ridden history
have agreed to launch peace talks with the government aimed at demobilizing
their fighters over the next three years.

The agreement announced late Tuesday calls for the United Self-Defense
Forces of Colombia, or AUC, to begin disarming its combatants this year and
to complete the process by the end of 2005, according to a copy of the
10-point document released by Colombia's presidency and signed by, among
others, government Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo and AUC chief
Carlos Castano.

The paramilitary army is battling leftist rebels in a bloody civil conflict
now in its 39th year. The fighting, which sets the rebels against the
country's US-backed military and the paramilitary forces, kills some 3,500
people annually, many civilians targeted by the paramilitaries as part of
their campaign to halt the rebel uprising.

"I believe this can contribute to the country laying down the foundation
for peace," President Alvaro Uribe told reporters yesterday.

The discussions that cleared the path for the unprecedented agreement began
in December in the rugged, northwestern state of Antioquia after
paramilitary leaders declared a unilateral cease-fire as a goodwill
gesture. Officials said the agreement was facilitated by Roman Catholic
Church officials.

It wasn't immediately clear when the next step in the process would begin
or where the talks will occur. Uribe vowed not to cede a demilitarized zone
to hold the discussions as his predecessor, Andres Pastrana, did to launch
negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the
country's largest rebel army. That three-year process collapsed last year.

While government officials and rights groups expressed hope yesterday that
the agreement will help stem the bloodshed in Colombia, analysts said its
success will depend largely on whether or not the state can provide
protection once paramilitary forces disarm.

"The same factors that fostered the rise of the paramilitaries will simply
lead to the creation of new militia groups if the state can't provide
protection," said Armando Borrero, a former national defense adviser under
the government of former President Daniel Samper. "And I don't think the
state has that ability."

A statement released last night by the Colombian Embassy in Washington said
that in addition to the AUC, two other smaller paramilitary groups had
joined the agreement: the Bloque Central Bolivar and Alianza Oriente.

Citing concern that a demobilization process will leave the country
vulnerable to a rebel offensive, several paramilitary militias have refused
to join the peace discussions.

Restrepo told reporters that as many as 13,000 paramilitary combatants will
be disarmed under the agreement. Other officials and security analysts put
the number closer to 6,000 fighters.

Before leaving her post this month, former US ambassador Anne Patterson
told El Tiempo newspaper that the Bush administration has agreed to provide
the Colombian government at least $3 million to help demobilize
paramilitary fighters and reintegrate them into civilian life.

The agreement with the AUC coincides with the three-year anniversary of
Plan Colombia, an aggressive, US-backed campaign to battle drug traffickers
and provide alternatives to Colombia's lucrative drug trade.

The plan, which is designed to halt drug cultivation, train Colombian
security forces, and provide economic and humanitarian assistance, has made
a significant dent in the production of coca, the base ingredient of
cocaine, while placing additional pressure on the rebels and paramilitary
groups, US and Colombian officials said.

According to the United Nations, coca cultivation is projected to shrink
from about 440,910 acres in 2003 to 135,000 acres by the end of this year,
a 38 percent reduction. In Putumayo, one of the most notorious drug
regions, the coca crop has been reduced by 97 percent over the past two and
a half years, from 178,200 acres to 4,320 acres as of last month, according
to the United Nations and Colombian National Police.

Colombia is the largest supplier of cocaine into the United States and a
major supplier of heroin.

"After 10 years this is the only time there has been a reduction," Luis
Alberto Moreno, Colombia's US ambassador, told reporters in Washington
yesterday.

Last month, Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos told the US Congress
that coca and poppy crops would be eliminated by 2006.

The United States has invested $2.5 billion to date in Plan Colombia.
Additional US funding for next year, on the order of $600 million, was
approved by the House Appropriations Committee last week.

Plan Colombia is also aimed at tackling rebel and paramilitary groups that
support their fighters through profits skimmed from the narcotics trade. US
forces have also trained a Colombian Army commando unit that began
targeting leftist rebel leaders in April.

"We are very close to hitting high value targets," said a senior Colombian
official on condition of anonymity. "I think it should succeed in the next
few months."

The US government also considers the AUC a terrorist organization and is
seeking to extradite paramilitary leaders Castano and Salvatore Mancuso on
drug charges. Restrepo, the peace commissioner, said the talks with the AUC
would not necessarily protect the two warlords from the extradition request.

Easterbrook reported from Bogota, Bender from Washington.