U.N. STUDY CONCLUDES AMOUNT OF COCA GROWN IN COLOMBIA LEVELING OFF

A U.N.-backed study released Thursday concludes that the amount of
coca grown in Colombia is leveling off after years of rapid growth,
but it is higher than U.S. officials have estimated.

According to satellite data released by the Colombian government's
National Council on Narcotics, the land dedicated to growing the
cocaine-producing plant increased by only two percent last year, to
402,600 acres - an area about twice the size of New York City.

"In other words, the year 2000 saw a trend toward the stabilization or
braking in the increase in plantings," a council statement said.

Klaus Nyholm, the top U.N. anti-drug official in Colombia, attributed
the slowdown to two factors: declining demand for cocaine abroad and
the shift into Colombia in previous years of most of the coca once
grown in nearby Peru and Bolivia.

He said the new figures are based on images taken by three
privately-contracted satellites on Aug. 31, 2000 - before the
Colombian government embarked in December on a major spraying effort
to kill fields in the top coca-growing state of Putumayo. The spraying
is being financed by a $1.3 billion U.S. aid package.

Based on CIA satellite images, U.S. officials recently estimated the
amount of coca plantings in Colombia at only 336,400 acres in 2000 -
about 17 percent lower than the U.N.-financed estimate.

Nyholm said the two studies use different satellite data and
methodologies for estimating the overall crop. However, he said both
studies agreed that coca cultivation is not expanding as fast as
before. Colombia produces 90 percent of the world's cocaine, and drug
profits are fueling Colombia's 37-year civil conflict. Leftist
guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary militias earn huge profits by
taxing and protecting coca fields.

Peru and Bolivia cracked down on coca cultivation in the early 1990s.
But the reductions were offset by increases in remote, rebel-dominated
regions of Colombia.

Critics worry the U.S.-backed offensive in Colombia will cause coca
farmers to plant deeper in the Amazon or fuel a new coca explosion in
other countries, including Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil.