COLOMBIAN PEACE TALKS START AMID MARCHES

COLOMBIA: As an estimated 10 to 15 million Colombians - perhaps a third of
the population - made their way to the starting points for peace marches
across the country, the government and FARC guerrillas finally reopened
negotiations in rebel-held territory after an eight month stalemate.

Millions of people gathered to march waving little white flags with the
words "No Mas" ("No More"), in protest at the longest running conflict in
Latin America, which has claimed the lives of more than 30,000 people in the
last four decades. The march organisers claim that the march is the biggest
ever in Colombia.

The peace movement here is still in its infancy. The first march of this
kind was organised by Mr Francisco Santos, editor of the country's principal
newspaper, El Tiempo, after guerrillas from the National Liberation Army
(ELN), attacked a church in Cali in April and kidnapped more than 100 people.

Since then, almost two million people have taken to the streets of all the
major cities to protest at the continued violence from leftist guerrilla
groups, rightist paramilitaries and drug-trafficking groups. Meanwhile,
members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the
government negotiating team, led by a peace commissioner, Mr Victor Ricardo,
sat down in the rural town of La Uribe to attempt to work out the structure
of a peace agreement.

The town is on the edge of a demilitarised zone the size of Switzerland,
from where President Andres Pastrana withdrew all state forces in November
last year to pave the way for a settlement.

Many critics of the peace process, principally from the US, say the
Colombian government has made far too many concessions to the guerrillas,
who are making a mockery of Mr Pastrana and his government by using the area
to recruit children into their ranks and control the supply of arms and
narcotics to and from neighbouring countries.

While Colombians are used to the failure of peace processes - five major
negotiations in the last 20 years collapsed - there is hope that this
weekend's talks will finally bring an end to the one of the most brutal
armed conflicts in the hemisphere. The massive turnout in the peace marches
will hopefully press home to both sides the urgency of finding an agreement
as quickly as possible.