COLOMBIA ARRESTS 3 IRA MEMBERS

Latin America: Men From European Guerrilla Group Allegedly Provided
Explosives Training To Leftist FARC Rebels.

BOGOTA, Colombia -- In a danger sign for peace talks on two continents,
three members of the Irish Republican Army were being held here Monday
after allegedly providing explosives training to Colombia's largest leftist
rebel group.

Military officials said the three men were captured at the airport in
Bogota on Saturday after spending five weeks in the demilitarized zone in
southern Colombia where the government is negotiating with the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The arrests point to the increasingly international nature of Colombia's
internal conflict in recent years as the FARC, enriched by drug-trafficking
and kidnapping revenue, has reached out to buy arms, training and support.
The arrests also indicate that the demilitarized zone, created with great
hope nearly three years ago to advance peace talks, has instead become a
haven for the FARC's guerrilla operations.

"Every day, the tendency of subversive groups in Colombia is more toward
terrorism," Gen. Jorge Enrique Mora, commander of Colombia's army, said
Monday at a news conference announcing the arrests. "Every day, their
terrorist attacks against the civilian population are worsening."

The seizure of the men also raised new questions about the peace process in
the British province of Northern Ireland, where Roman Catholic
"republicans" who want union with Ireland have been fighting for decades
with Protestants who wish to remain part of Britain. The IRA has lately
been engaged in talks with a disarmament commission aimed at getting it to
lay down its weapons.

A Protestant leader involved in negotiations with Sinn Fein, the political
arm of the IRA, said the reports would "seriously, if not fatally,"
undermine the peace process if they prove true.

"I call on [Sinn Fein leader] Gerry Adams to state categorically where the
republican movement stands in relation to its commitment to . . . peace and
democracy," said Reg Empey, the senior negotiator with the Ulster Unionist
Party.

The three men allegedly entered Colombia five weeks ago bearing false
passports from Britain and Ireland. The leader of the group, still
unidentified late Monday, was said to have been carrying the passport of
David Bracken, who died in infancy several years ago.

The two other men were identified as Martin McCauley and William Monaghan,
both of whom have served time in Britain for their involvement with the
IRA, Colombian officials said. British officials contacted Monday would not
corroborate that information.

The men were apparently teaching members of the 30,000-strong FARC how to
build car bombs and other explosive devices for use in Colombia's
four-decade-old conflict.

In a disturbing sign of the increasingly common pairing of international
arms trafficking and cocaine dealing, the three men wore clothes that
contained traces of explosives, cocaine and methamphetamine, Colombian
authorities said. They said it was unclear whether the men were paid for
their help with money or drugs.

British and Irish authorities have been contacted about the arrests but had
not made an extradition demand as of Monday. The men could also be tried in
Colombia, where they could face 15 to 20 years in prison if convicted on
charges of providing training in terrorist techniques to subversives.

Although the FARC is estimated to be making $300 million to $500 million a
year from drug trafficking and kidnapping, it has shown surprisingly few
signs of having heavy weaponry or advanced technology. Bombing attacks are
normally carried out with crude, jerry-built explosive devices made from
gas canisters.

Gen. Fernando Tapias, head of Colombia's joint chiefs of staff, said the
armed forces are now bracing for more sophisticated rebel attacks.

The search for peace in Northern Ireland has faced a series of challenges
in recent days, including a rejection by the Ulster Unionists, the
province's largest Protestant party, of the IRA's latest pledge to ditch
its weapons; the temporary suspension of the provincial assembly over the
weekend; and fears that the IRA is about to withdraw its offer to disarm.

Sinn Fein leader Adams has called into question an assertion by John Reid,
Britain's Northern Ireland secretary, that the parties are on the verge of
reaching an agreement. Adams is scheduled to fly to Latin America in early
September, apparently to attend a series of events.