Colombia's government has offered to expedite the release of leftist rebels from its prisons if the guerrilla group immediately frees ailing French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt.
Bogota is prepared to drop several of the conditions it had placed on a long-sought prisoner swap, in a bid to jump-start the deal and secure freedom for Betancourt and other hostages in poor health, Colombian Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo said.
"It's enough that Ingrid Betancourt be immediately released for us to consider the humanitarian deal is on, enabling us to conditionally suspend the sentences of members of the rebel group," Restrepo said late on Thursday.
Asked how many rebels would be freed, Restrepo said that Bogota was not placing a limit on the number and had "reduced to a minimum" its conditions for the swap.
"There is no limit as to the crime committed, or the type of sentence received," he said.
Earlier on Thursday, Colombia's omsbudsman renewed concerns over Betancourt's health, saying her rebel captors took her to medical facilities in southeastern Colombia late last month.
"The information that we have, at least until February, is that the state of her health is very delicate, and her physical and health conditions have been deteriorating," said Volmar Perez, an independent official in charge of relations between the government and the population.
The 46-year-old former presidential candidate kidnapped in February 2002 is suffering from hepatitis B and leishmania, a skin disease caused by insect bites, Perez said, citing sources he declined to identify.
"We did not give those rumors great credibility. Nothing has been corroborated," Restrepo said of the reports, adding that President Alvaro Uribe "remains concerned" for Betancourt's health.
She is among 39 high-profile hostages, including three American defense contractors, whom the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) want to exchange for 500 rebels held in prison, including two held in US prisons.
Direct talks to negotiate the prisoner swap have never gotten off the ground, although the rebels released six hostages to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez earlier this year.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including