COLOMBIA SEEKS TO WIDEN DRUGS WAR

Colombia President Andres Pastrana has appealed for the United States to
allow its anti-drugs aid to be used directly against insurgents who, he
said, were committing terrorist acts against the people.

The US Congress has imposed rules which currently restrict use of the aid
to attacks against the cocaine and heroin-producing operations themselves.

The main left-wing rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC), and their right-wing paramilitary opponents are said to receive
significant funding from drugs operations.

Mr Pastrana also called for a large turnout in Sunday's congressional
elections, as a protest against a sharp upsurge of violence by the groups.

Mr Pastrana was speaking as electoral officials warned that as many as half
of all voters might abstain out of fear or apathy.

In some areas, voters are coming under pressure from FARC rebels to boycott
the election.

In others, paramilitaries from the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia
(AUC) have instructed people to pick the candidate of their choosing.

More than 100,000 police and soldiers are being deployed at polling
stations in one of the largest ever security operations of its kind.

Bombing campaign

Clashes between the army and the rebels have increased since the collapse
of peace talks last month.

Rebels are reported to have begun bombing bridges, reservoirs and
communication towers.

"We hope we can use all of this military equipment to really go after these
groups that today are doing all these terrorist acts against the Colombian
people," Mr Pastrana said.

"If the guerrillas think they can overthrow us with bombs and bullets and
by terrorising Colombians, we show them the exact opposite - that what we
want is to strengthen our democracy," he added.

But a poll in January suggested that the Colombian Congress had the worst
reputation of any institution in Colombia apart from the FARC.

Cocaine figures

The US issued a report on Thursday which said that the area in Colombia
used for coca crops grew by almost 25% last year despite the anti-drugs
programme.

Coca crops in Colombia, the world's largest producer of cocaine and the
main supplier of the drug in the US, grew to almost 170,000 hectares last
year, according to the US estimates.

The White House said the new figures were a source of concern.

The Colombian authorities disputed the figures, saying they managed to
reduce the area cultivated with coca to just under 145,000 hectares in
2001, an 11% drop compared with the previous year.