COLOMBIAN REBELS REJECT CALL FOR U.N. MEDIATION

President Had Called For U.N. Help

BOGOTA - In their first missive to President Alvaro Uribe, Colombian
guerrillas on Thursday rejected the notion of U.N. mediation to end
the four-decade long conflict, and the government quickly responded
with plans to hire 40,000 new police and soldiers as soon as March.

The moves underscore the wide gap between a president and an
insurgency equally determined to win a war that has plagued Colombia
for nearly 40 years. They also show that, at least for now, a
negotiated solution seems out of the question.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, posted
an open letter to Uribe on its website Thursday, saying group leaders
are not opposed to dialogue -- but only on their terms. In its first
communique since the Aug. 7 inauguration, the FARC says it supports
dialogue, but that Uribe's proposed arbiter -- the United Nations --
would be inappropriate.

''The conflict isn't with them, but with the Liberal-Conservative
party union that impedes changes,'' the FARC wrote, referring to the
mainstream parties that have dominated Colombian politics for decades.

FARC rebels have waged war here for nearly 40 years, most recently
stepping up a campaign of terror attacks and kidnappings in pursuit of
a Marxist political agenda. Uribe was elected in May on the promise to
bring a firm hand against rebels; they reacted by staging a bloody
mortar attack on the presidential palace as he was sworn in.

The Uribe administration declined to comment specifically on the FARC
communique, but made an announcement of its own instead. Acting on
powers granted by a recent declaration of a state of emergency,
Defense Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez announced a ''shock plan'' to
hire an additional 40,000 police and soldiers by March. Of those,
15,000 would be peasants hired part time as auxiliaries.

The peasant patrols would be in 483 cities throughout the country,
including 2,000 in Bogota, the capital.

The Colombian government, recipient of nearly $2 billion in U.S. aid,
has been widely criticized for failing to staff its armed forces
adequately. The country's vast territory is largely unprotected,
leaving huge swaths of rural countryside open to guerrilla advances.

During his campaign, Uribe pledged to enlist 100,000 new police and
soldiers. Last week, he said he would pay for the new recruits with a
new levy imposed only on people with assets of more than $64,000.

Human rights activists worry that the new units would not only become
rebel targets, but could become allied with illegal right-wing
paramilitary groups.

''We don't at all want people doing military activities outside the
law,'' Ramirez told reporters Thursday afternoon.

She stressed that the recruits would have to meet the same criteria
for ordinary soldiers, except that they would sleep at home, work part
time, and leave their guns at the base.

Uribe, who broke away from the Liberal Party to launch his successful
bid for the presidency, has suggested U.N. mediation and FARC
parliament seats once the country is at peace. But the FARC insists
that before any talks begin, Uribe must withdraw the military from two
provinces, Caqueta and Putumayo.

''Their positions are mutual: non-negotiation,'' said Leon Valencia,
author of Goodbye Politics, Welcome War, which details the failed
peace process that ended earlier this year. ``The strategies on both
sides are antagonistic.''

Valencia said both ask for things they know they won't get, setting
the stage for intensified warfare to last two to three years. Uribe,
for his part, has insisted the guerrillas lay down their arms before
sitting down at the peace table.

In its Thursday letter, the FARC also demanded that the government
quit referring to the group as ''terrorists'' and ''narcoterrorists,''
labels that became fashionable here since last year's Sept. 11
attacks. The rebels are also asking the government to crack down on
anyone who promotes or finances paramilitaries.

''It's a game,'' Valencia said. ``Purely political.''

Meanwhile, Colombia's other insurgent group, the National Liberation
Army, showed no signs of letting up either. The group was blamed for
this week's mass kidnapping of 24 people, including 18 retirees on an
ecological tour of northwest Colombia. Roughly 3,000 people are
kidnapped each year in Colombia.

'Alvaro Uribe wants to put on a display of military force -- that puts
kidnap victims' lives in danger,'' said Yolanda Pulecios, whose
daughter, former senator and presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt,
was kidnapped by the FARC six months ago. ``Every time they bomb a
guerrilla camp, I die of anguish.''