COLOMBIA ANTI-DRUGS AID RAISES ARMY FEARS

Bill Clinton's budget includes a $1.3bn (pounds 840m) package to help
Colombia battle against its thriving narcotics trade, but many fear that
the money will aggravate the violence and suck the US deeper into a vicious
civil war.

The main focus of the aid plan, which includes support for judicial reforms
and human rights protection, is a massive boost for the Colombian army,
which has been strictly controlled since 1994 after it was involved in
torture and other human rights abuses. More than $600m will be used for
drugs interdiction programmes, including equipment and training for three
elite counter-narcotics battalions, and the construction of radar bases and
intelligence networks. Thirty hi-tech UH-60 Blackhawk and 33 Huey
helicopters will be lent.

Colombia produces more than 80% of the cocaine sold in the US, and
narcotics production has more than doubled since 1997, but leftwing rebel
groups say that the aid is merely an excuse to step up counter-insurgency
operations.

"The problems here are about the social order. Hunger, poverty and
exploitation are not solved with rifles and machine guns," said Manuel
Marulanda, the head of the 15,000-strong Revolutionary Armed Forces (Farc).
But in the remote Amazon jungles where Farc fighters protect drug
installations in return for "war taxes", the distinction between
anti-narcotics operations and counter insurgency missions will be hard to
maintain.

Human rights groups say that as anti-drugs units push into rebel-dominated
regions, the civilian population will once more be caught in the crossfire.
In the past decade, about 35,000 people have died, and some 1.7m civilians
have been driven from their homes.

Although US law forbids military aid to units involved in torture or other
abuses, human rights groups are calling for tighter monitoring.

According to Amnesty International, although the army's human rights record
has improved, some sections continue to support rightwing militias accused
of torture, kidnap and murder.