COLUMBIA VOWS TO INVESTIGATE TROOPS' KILLING OF 6 CHILDREN

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- In a test of its commitment to improving its human
rights record, the Colombian government has promised a full-scale
investigation of an army attack on an elementary school hiking group that
left six children between ages 8 and 10 dead last week.

Immediately after the children were shot Tuesday, commanders of the army
blamed guerrillas involved in Colombia's long-running insurgencies for the
deaths, saying that rebels were using the children as shields in a battle.
But throughout the week, various witnesses came forward to say that there
were no rebels near the coffee field in northwestern Colombia where the
shooting occurred.

The episode came at a particularly embarrassing moment for President Andres
Pastrana, who is preparing for President Clinton's six-hour visit in the
port of Cartagena on Aug. 30.

Over the next few days, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is to certify
whether Colombia has met several human rights conditions in order to be
eligible for the military component of a $1.3 billion aid program designed
to combat drug trafficking in two southern provinces dominated by Marxist
guerrillas.

If Albright does not certify Colombia, Clinton still can grant the country
a national security waiver to release the aid. A halt in aid, which Clinton
administration officials say is vital to slowing the flow of Colombian
cocaine to the United States, is considered highly unlikely.

The government said that it is investigating 25 soldiers and officers of
the army's 4th Division in the shootings of the children and that 43
investigators from three government agencies have been put on the case.

Government officials insist that the killings were not intentional. "The
only option we can definitely rule out is that Colombian soldiers would
have fired intentionally on the children," said Attorney General Alfonso
Gomez Mendez.

Army officials said the shooting occurred as units of two army battalions
were chasing rebels of the National Liberation Army, the country's
second-largest rebel group best known for kidnappings and bombing oil
pipelines. Francisco Galan, a spokesman for the group, denied his forces
were anywhere near the combat.