SHORTFALL REMAINS IN DRUG WAR PLEDGES

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Struggling to put the best face possible on lukewarm
support for this country's anti-narcotics program, officials here announced
Tuesday a contribution of about $180 million from European and other
foreign donors.

The pledge from the European Union, Japan, Canada and several other nations
leaves a shortfall of about $700 million in anticipated foreign
contributions to the $7.5-billion anti-drug effort known as Plan Colombia.
In addition, the new money will be given over six years, rather than the
requested three-year period.

The United States has pledged $1.3 billion, primarily in the form of
military aid.

The lack of enthusiasm from other countries is generally interpreted as a
sign of misgivings about the overall strategy. The plan emphasizes crop
eradication, which will put drug enforcement officers on the front lines of
this nation's long-running guerrilla war.

Colombia's insurgents guard drug crops and receive part of their financing
from "taxes" on crops. The South American nation supplies three-fourths of
the world's cocaine and an increasing share of the heroin sold in the
United States.

Europeans want to differentiate their support by promoting Colombia's
effort to strengthen its courts and police, improve respect for human
rights and give farmers incentives to grow crops other than opium poppies
and coca, said a source close to the negotiations.

"There is a lot of uncertainty," said Jaime Tenjo, director of economics at
Javeriana University in Bogota, the capital. "People are afraid that in the
short term there will be more combat, more death and more human rights
abuses."

The size of Tuesday's donation provoked an additional concern: that the
government here might have to lower its expectations for foreign funding of
Plan Colombia. It had already expected to pay for the bulk of the plan and
had budgeted $3.15 billion over three years for anti-narcotics operations
and social spending.

An additional $1.75 billion was to have been raised through special taxes
and international loans. That left $2.6 billion to be raised from foreign
contributions.

Most of the U.S. contribution will go toward buying 58 helicopters and for
training and equipment for three elite anti-narcotics battalions. About
one-third of the U.S. aid for Plan Colombia will be spent on anti-drug
efforts in neighboring countries.

The United Nations, Spain and Norway also have contributed to the plan.

Although the military plan appears to be taking shape, the Colombian
government has yet to fully secure financing for the plan's social
component: programs to feed and shelter refugees who flee military actions
and efforts to persuade coca farmers to find another livelihood.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday evening, Colombian Foreign Minister Guillermo
Fernandez de Soto insisted: "This is not about numbers. It's about the
beginning of a process . . . that is significant for our country and our
peace process."

Fernandez had earlier rejected charges that foreign contributions are
coming up short, insisting that there is no deadline on efforts to win
financial backing.