PEACE EFFORT IN COLOMBIA

It's unclear whether the resumption of peace talks in Colombia is a
genuine effort or an exercise by both the government and the rebels in
political cover.

President Andres Pastrana has made substantive concessions to
jump-start the talks.

But both he and Manuel Marulanda, the Marxist leader of the main rebel
movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, will
have to offer more serious proposals to end the 37-year-old war.

Talks resumed recently after a three-month break, reflecting
Pastrana's interest in seeking a negotiated peace.

His promise to crackdown on right-wing death squads and the
government's extension of the rebels' safe haven in southern Colombia
were good-faith measures that should instill confidence in the talks.

This month's conviction by a military court of an Army general for a
paramilitary massacre in 1997 came at an opportune time. But Pastrana
has far to go in severing the ties between the military, the militias
and the drug traffickers allied against the rebels. Secretary of State
Colin Powell pressed that point with the Colombian foreign minister,
and a spokesman said President Bush will tell Pastrana, in a meeting
later this month, that "we do look forward to more signs in the months
ahead."

Washington has a large role to play for all the wrong
reasons.

The $1.3- billion U.S. aid package, largely military assistance to
destroy the coca fields in rebel territory, represents the hammer
Pastrana brings to the table.

The government hopes the eradication effort, called Plan Colombia,
shuts down the cocaine economy and deprives the rebels of their gun
money.

But the aerial spraying is killing cash crops peasant-growers need to
survive, and causing health and environmental damage on the ground.

Many fear the government's plan will backfire and drive young
Colombians to join the rebels out of desperation. That could draw the
United States into Colombia's war, just as the Huey and Blackhawk
helicopters arrive, and U.S. military trainers get settled in
Colombian military bases.

We'll know soon enough if the two sides are just buying time. A cease-
fire would be a good starting point, as neither side seems capable of
defeating the other militarily. The rebels need to halt attacks
against civilians, end the kidnapping of wealthy victims and wean the
movement away from the cocaine economy.

Rebel leaders have said they favor eliminating the coca crop -- only
without troops and aerial spraying. FARC should back up its words with
a concrete proposal.

The government needs to reign in the death squads, clean the civil
service and judiciary and give farmers more money and technical
assistance to grow legitimate crops.

Ending a war that's killed 35,000 in the last decade won't happen
overnight.

Washington can help by insisting on a political settlement.