MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

France increasingly involved in release of Colombian hostages

France sends plane to wait for Ingrid Betancourt

Colombia thanked France for having displayed on stand by a medical evacuation aircraft to receive, in case she's released, ailing French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt kidnapped by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces, FARC over six years ago.

According to the Catholic Church and Colombia's ombudsman Vomar Perez Ms Betancourt is suffering from hepatitis B, parasitic disease leishmaniasis and malaria. Recent accounts from former hostages say she's rapidly deteriorating. Colombian president Alvaro Uribe also announced that France would be willing to receive former guerrilla fighters as part of a possible deal to free scores of other hostages held by the Marxist oriented, cocaine funded FARC group which has been fighting the Colombian government for almost four decades. Some of the kidnap victims have been held for as long as 10 years in secret jungle camps. Uribe last week also urged FARC fighters to accept offers of cash rewards and reduced jail terms for abandoning rebel ranks and handing over hostages. "People have asked me, can they also go overseas? Yes they can go overseas and we will help in that matter. We have spoken to the French government, which has told us it would be willing to take them in over there," Uribe said at a public event. "All we need is for things to start moving, that rebels take that decision and leave the guerrillas and set the hostages free," he said. France, Spain and Switzerland are engaged in efforts to broker a deal to swap rebel fighters for hostages. Pressure for that is building after details emerged indicating former presidential candidate Betancourt is gravely ill after six years in captivity. Uribe was speaking in San José del Guaviare town in the remote province where authorities said last week that they had received reports Betancourt had been secretly treated recently in rural clinics in areas still under rebel influence. The French medical evacuation Falcon aircraft had been waiting in French Guyana for the possible release of Ms Betancourt. "Let's hope they have a "soft heart" said Colombia's Interior and Justice Minister Carlos Holguin Sardi who underlined that "international cooperation for this humanitarian task is most welcome". Apparently the Colombian government has set aside 100 million US dollars in rewards to tempt foot guerrillas to release hostages. FARC is believed to have 700 hostages of which 40 are high profile (among them Ms Betancourt, US contractors, Colombian politicians) and the organization has been longing to exchange for 500 guerrillas condemned and jailed by Colombian courts.