U.S. DRUG CZAR ASKS FOR ANOTHER $1 BILLION TO HELP REBEL-BESIEGED COLOMBIA

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Alarmed by recent advances by Colombian guerrillas who
are involved in drug trafficking, the Clinton administration's top anti-drug
official is asking that the United States make $1 billion in emergency
assistance available to the Colombian government to strengthen its efforts
against drugs.

The request by Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, comes as Colombia's defense minister and the chief of its
armed forces are in Washington on an official visit.

In meetings on Thursday and Friday, the Colombian military officials said
they were seeking an additional $500 million in U.S. aid over the next two
years.

"We are preparing modern armed forces that, if peace can be achieved, will
guard our borders and natural resources," Defense Minister Luis Fernando
Ramirez said Thursday. "That is the country we dream of. But we are also
preparing the armed forces for war, if need be."

In a series of attacks beginning July 8, units of the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, the country's principal left-wing guerrilla group, came
within 25 miles of the capital before being driven back.

On July 10, President Andres Pastrana imposed a limited curfew in 10 of
Colombia's 32 provinces. But he has also said he plans to go ahead with
peace talks with the guerrillas Monday.

McCaffrey's recommendation, which would dramatically increase U.S. support
for Pastrana, calls for $1 billion in "emergency drug supplemental"
assistance for Colombia and other drug-producing countries during the fiscal
year beginning in October.

The request is contained in a letter and discussion paper he sent to
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Attorney General Janet Reno,
copies of which were obtained by The New York Times.

State Department officials said Friday that Albright had received the letter
but that no decision on the request had been made. Congressional Republicans
have generally supported assistance for the Colombian government in drug
eradication efforts and in its campaign against guerrilla groups.

Before meeting with Ramirez and Gen. Fernando Tapias in Washington on
Friday, McCaffrey said he would "not publicly discuss the details" of any
recommendations he has made to other U.S. officials.

But he made it clear that he favors the Colombians' request for increased
U.S. support. And he announced plans for a visit to Colombia at the end of
this month.

"Colombia is in a near-crisis situation," he said. "This is an emergency."

He added that, because "criminal trafficking organizations have done serious
damage to Colombian national security over the past few years," the United
States has an obligation to "support the Colombian government as it attempts
to reassert democratic control over its drug-producing regions."

Formally, all U.S. aid to Colombia, which produces most of the world's
cocaine and most of the heroin consumed in the United States, is intended
for anti-drug rather than counter-insurgency efforts.

But in practical terms, the distinction is fading, as Tapias made clear
Thursday when he said: "The aid we are seeking is to fight drug-traffickers
and any group that helps them."

After meeting several U.S. senators on Thursday, Ramirez said Colombia
wanted the money to buy more military helicopters, interceptor planes and
radar equipment.

In remarks carried in Friday's newspapers here, he said the Colombian
government also "hopes to obtain on loan some of the equipment the Southern
Command had at Howard Air Force Base in Panama" before closing operations
there in May.

The McCaffrey proposal would provide much more aid in a shorter time than
the Colombians are seeking. According to the letter, the emergency aid would
include $360 million to bolster existing anti-drug operations in southern
Colombia and $130 million "to establish Colombia's ability to interdict in
southern Colombia," a region increasingly dominated by the guerrillas.

The United States argues that eradication efforts have substantially reduced
coca growing in the Guaviare region, a traditional cultivation area.

But recent satellite images indicate a surge in coca and heroin poppy
cultivation in the Putumayo and Caqueta areas, which are largely under
guerrilla control. That surge has contributed to a 25 percent increase in
the past year in the acreage devoted to growing drugs in Colombia.

Under the McCaffrey proposal, Colombia would also receive $30 million to
"enhance regional intelligence programs" in order to "increase collection
and improve assessments" of information obtained by satellites, radar and
electronic intercepts. An additional $200 million would be earmarked for
improving U.S. interdiction efforts in the air and sea lanes north of here.

A study published by the Government Accounting Office last month revealed
that the United States had begun sharing intelligence on guerrilla
activities with the Colombian government in March.

Any increase in aid to Colombia would have to be approved by Congress.