ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN TO RESUME IN COLOMBIA

Downing Of Missionary Plane Had Halted Aid Efforts By U.S.

BOGOTA, Colombia - Eighteen months after an American missionary plane was
accidentally shot down, the United States will resume a campaign to help
Colombia track and force down drug flights, officials from both countries
said Wednesday.

The program was suspended in April 2001 in Colombia and Peru after a
Peruvian warplane mistakenly shot down the missionary flight over the
Amazon, killing an American woman and her infant daughter.

Colombian warplanes will intercept drug flights based on intelligence from
the United States, Colombian air force commander Gen. Hector Velasco said
Wednesday. Officials said the campaign would resume over Peru later.

Colombian ground and air crews and pilots are receiving safety training in
Oklahoma City.

The State Department will be the lead agency handling the program after
U.S. lawmakers recommended that the CIA no longer manage it.

The missionary plane was shot down after a CIA plane spotted what it
considered a suspicious aircraft and called in the Peruvians. The U.S. crew
later realized the flight was innocent but was unable to stop the Peruvian
jet from firing.