COLOMBIA'S NO-WIN WAR

Should Canadians care about faraway Colombia? Yes. Its cocaine and heroin
exports poison lives here. And Marxist insurgents have destablilized the
country of 40 million, which borders oil-rich Venezuela and Panama, as well
as Peru, Ecuador and Brazil.

So Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government is right to offer to help
President Andres Pastrana battle the narco-barons and the guerrillas who
have taken the lives of 35,000 people in the past 30 years.

In Cartagena on Saturday, Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy announced
that RCMP officers will train Colombian police to combat drug trafficking
and money laundering, without compromising human rights. Ottawa will use
aid to wean people from the drug trade, which may comprise 10 per cent of
the economy.

And on the military front, Canada has offered to help Colombia's fitful
peace talks. We have experience, on United Nations peacekeeping tours and
in Northern Ireland, in conflict-resolution, rehabilitating rebels back
into civilian life, and monitoring weapons surrenders.

This makes sense as part of a wider drive to stifle the hemisphere's last
major civil war, and curb the drug flow.

U.S. President Bill Clinton has promised Pastrana $1.6 billion to fight the
guerrillas who control two-fifths of the country, making Colombia the
third-biggest U.S. aid recipient after Israel and Egypt. Even with that
help, Pastrana's 50,000 troops won't easily dislodge 20,000 well-entrenched
rebels, or roust the narco-barons.

But Clinton hopes to persuade the rebel leaders that they can't win and
should negotiate peace. Nicaragua and El Salvador showed it can be done.
Certainly, Colombians yearn for that. Millions marched last October
chanting No Mas, no more killing, and demanding peace.

Canadians want no part in Colombia's fighting. But if we can help restore
peace, we should.