PEACE TALKS TO RESUME IN COLOMBIA

Most Powerful Rebel Band, Government Plan To Meet This Week

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Overcoming a deadlock that had paralyzed
negotiations since July, the government and Colombia's most powerful rebel
band have agreed to resume peace talks this week, a rebel spokesman said
Saturday.

"We agreed that the most important thing for the Colombian people is to
start the dialogues," Raul Reyes, of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC, told RCN TV.

Negotiations aimed at ending nearly 40 years of civil conflict were
launched in January but stalled over the FARC's refusal to allow
international monitors into a huge region cleared of troops and police as a
forum for the peace talks.

In July, President Andres Pastrana said that substantive negotiations could
not continue without an international verification commission to oversee
conditions in the region in southern Colombia.

The Colombian military has accused the rebel group of recruiting and
training fighters within the zone, which the rebels have used as a
springboard to launch their offensives. The rebels, who claim to have about
15,000 in their ranks, have admitted to killing 11 civilians in the area,
accusing them of spying for right-wing paramilitary groups.

"It is absolutely clear that the problem with the commission has been
solved," said Reyes, one of the FARC's top negotiators.

The government had no immediate comment on Reyes' remarks.

The FARC's seven-man ruling junta will meet government representatives and
Pastrana peace envoy Victor Ricardo this week to finalize a timetable for
talks, which are to take place in the remote village of La Uribe in the
demilitarized zone.

The rebels have refused a request for a cease-fire, and Reyes repeated that
talks will continue "in the midst of the war."

On Thursday, Pastrana returned from Washington, where he presented U.S.
lawmakers with a $7.5 billion plan to promote peace, fight drug trafficking
and spark economic recovery. He lobbied for $3.5 billion in international
aid for the plan.

But last weekend, the FARC's seven-man secretariat said increased aid could
lead to all-out civil war.

This year, Colombia received $289 million in U.S. military assistance;
Bogota asked for $500 million more.

Pastrana recently inaugurated an anti-narcotics battalion, trained and
financed by the United States. It will concentrate operations in southern
Colombia, where rebels have raised millions of dollars protecting drug
operations.