MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

France willing to take in Colombian FARC prisoners

Pte. Alvaro Uribe, left, greets French PM Francois Fillon

France is willing to admit imprisoned Colombian guerrillas as part of a deal to secure the release of hostages held in the South American country, the French prime minister said Wednesday.

Francois Fillon said the guerrillas, currently locked up in Colombia, could be freed in France as part of a swap with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. In exchange, the rebel group would release the hostages it holds in Colombia's jungles, he said. Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who has dual French-Colombian nationality, is among FARC's hostages, and the French government has made her release a priority. FARC has previously offered to release 46 high-profile hostages, including Betancourt and three U.S. defense contractors, in return for the release of hundreds of imprisoned rebels. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe "indicated to me that he hoped France could take in (the guerrillas), and France indicated that it was willing, along with other European and Latin American countries, to do so," Fillon told Europe-1 radio. He did not specify the other countries willing to participate. Fillon spoke a day after the rebels announced an offer to hand over three of the hostages to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. It said the offer concerned Betancourt aide Clara Rojas, Rojas' son Emmanuel, and Consuelo Gonzalez, a former congresswoman kidnapped in 2001. Chavez had been trying to negotiate a prisoner swap between the rebels and the Colombian government before Uribe called off his efforts last month. Last month Uribe said Chavez had overstepped his mandate by directly contacting the head of Colombia's army. Relatives of the kidnapped hostages criticized Uribe for ending Chavez's participation just as it was starting to show results. During a Cabinet meeting, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said FARC's announcement was a "message of hope and a message of strong encouragement," according to government spokesman Laurent Wauquiez