BOGOTA STEPS UP JUNGLE OFFENSIVE

Bush Follows US Impatience With Peace Strategy

Thousands of Colombian troops have been flown to the eastern jungles to
hunt down and destroy a battered column of 1,500 guerrillas. It is the
latest of a series of offensives coinciding with reports that Washington is
growing impatient with President Andres Pastrana's attempts to make peace
with the leftwing rebels.

The operation, a begun a few days before a US diplomatic mission arrives in
Bogota, demonstrates the army's growing confidence and capacity, due mainly
to US-made helicopters and extra military aid from Washington.

Helicopters dropped 6,000 troops along a river dividing Guaviare and Meta
statesto try to stop the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc)
guerrillas reaching the demilitarised zone which Mr Pastrana ceded to coax
them into peace talks in 1998.

"This will end in a massive guerrilla surrender, if we don't bring them
back in body-bags first," the operation commander, General Carlos Fracica,
said.

"Only when the rebels are annihilated will we leave the region."

The Farc column marched out of the demilitarised zone in late July,
planning to attack towns and military bases towards the Venezuelan border.

On August 10 the guerrillas attacked the village of La Cooperativa,
destroying dozens of house with their gas-cylinder mortars. But two days
later they army responded with one of its biggest operations in recent years.

After two weeks of heavy fighting, the guerrillas are thought to have split
into smaller units in an attempt to reach the safe haven.

Deserters say they are scattered throughout the jungle, and running low on
ammunition and food. The army has dropped leaflets calling on them to
surrender.

Earlier this week a further 1,000 rebels emerged from demilitarised zone to
cover the retreating column, only to be intercepted by helicopter gunships
equipped with night-vision sights.

Television news broadcasts have included infra-red footage of the rebels
being cut down by machine-gun fire and cluster bombs.

On Wednesday senior state department officials will lead the first US
diplomatic mission to Bogota since President George Bush took office.

Washington is apparently growing impatient with FARC's military use of the
haven, which is twice the size of Wales.

US and Colombian officials say that the peace talks have practically ground
to a halt and Farc is using the demilitarised zone to train terrorists,
imprison kidnap victims, and launch offensives.

The Americans were particularly angered by the arrest last week of the
three suspected IRA members accused by the army of training Farc in urban
guerrilla tactics and bomb-making.

Talks with Colombia's second biggest rebel group, the National Liberation
Army (ELN) were suspended earlier this month.

The New York Times quoted a senior White House official on Thursday saying
there was "no reason to believe" that there would be a substantive deal
with either group in the near future.

There is increasing speculation that Washington is pushing Mr Pastrana, who
leaves office in a year, to take a tougher stance with the rebels.

The Clinton administration approved nearly UKP700m in mostly military aid,
on the condition that it was strictly for anti-narcotics operations and not
counter-insurgency.

None of the troops trained under the aid package, known as Plan Colombia,
are involved in the current fighting, and officials said the Black Hawk
helicopters being used were bought from Washington, not donated.

But on Tuesday a senior defence department official voiced doubts about the
US focus on fighting drugs but not - officially - the rebels.

"I think we as a country are not quite sure where we are heading," an
assistant secretary of defence, Peter Rodman, said, adding that there was
concern about getting deeper into a conflict.

"Is it just narcotics, or is there some wider stake we may have in the
survival of a friendly democratic government?"