The Hindu : Uribe move to assert his authority

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 17, 2003

International

International - Globescan

Uribe move to assert his authority

ARAUCA (Colombia): An outlawed Colombian right-wing paramilitary group agreed to peace talks and promised to lay down its weapons by 2005, while the President symbolically moved the capital to a war zone to show that his Government, not leftist rebels, controls the country. The paramilitary United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, or AUC, promised on Tuesday to start demobilising its 10,000 troops by the end of the year. The official peace negotiations come after a December cease-fire and six months of exploratory talks. The AUC is an umbrella paramilitary group that is accused of some of the worst human rights abuses in Colombia's 39-year civil war. It arose in the 1980s to counter extortion and kidnappings by leftist rebels in rural areas where government troops had little or no control. ``I believe that this can contribute to the country laying down the foundation for peace,'' said the Colombian President, Alvaro Uribe, from the city of Arauca, where he moved the capital for three days.

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