Colombian rebels to free US, British journalists

www.alertnet.org

(Writes through with rebel announcement) By Ibon Villelabeitia

BOGOTA, Colombia, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Marxist rebels said on Tuesday they would release in the next two days a British reporter and a U.S. photographer they kidnapped last week in a war-torn stretch of eastern Colombia.

"They will be released in the next few days, in one or two days," Antonio Garcia, a commander of the Cuban-inspired National Liberation Army, or ELN, told RCN radio, adding the two were in "good health."

British reporter Ruth Morris and U.S. photographer Scott Dalton were traveling on a freelance assignment for the Los Angeles Times along a rural road in the violent province of Arauca when they were stopped at a rebel roadblock and spirited away on Jan. 21.

Garcia did not give details of the planned release but said the ELN was coordinating with the Los Angeles Times. "There is a critical combat situation in the area but the will and the decision of the ELN is to release them in the coming days."

Colombia is torn by a four-decade-old war that pits leftist rebels against right-wing paramilitaries and the U.S.-backed military. It is one of the world's most dangerous places for reporters, and eight Colombian journalists were killed last year.

Speaking from an undisclosed location, Garcia said Morris was given an opportunity to broadcast a birthday greeting to her father on Monday over an ELN clandestine radio station.

Reuters obtained a partial transcript of the broadcast Tuesday, in which Morris is briefly interviewed by a man who identifies himself as a member of the ELN's Domingo Lain unit.

The man said the release will take place "as soon as security conditions permit it."

"First of all, let's go on with an interview with the journalists, a U.S. photographer, and a British journalist for the Los Angeles Times," the man says in a crackling broadcast.

"Good afternoon. This is Ruth Morris."

"Do you copy?," the man's voice asks.

"Yes I copy," Morris answers.

The communication with Morris then becomes inaudible. Dalton is not heard in the conversation.

FARC FREE TV CREW

Garcia's interview came just as rebels of the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as "FARC," released unharmed a five-man Colombian television crew they had kidnapped on Sunday, also in Arauca province.

The RCN Television crew had traveled to Arauca to cover the kidnapping of Morris and Dalton and the region's deteriorating security when they were snatched by the FARC. RCN said rebels took the crew's equipment, including a satellite telephone.

Arauca, an oil-rich region of savannas and swamps bordering Venezuela, is one of the most violent zones in a war that kills thousands every year. Suspected rebels Sunday killed six soldiers after detonating the fourth car bomb in a month.

Morris and Dalton, both experienced hands in Colombia, were stopped at an ELN roadblock, hooded and taken to a secret guerrilla camp, said their driver, who was later released.

A group of 70 U.S. Special Forces personnel are in Arauca to train local troops counterinsurgency techniques to protect an oil pipeline from frequent rebel attacks. The pipeline serves U.S.-based oil company Occidental Petroleum.

In a clandestine radio broadcast last week, the 5,000-strong ELN said it was demanding unspecified "political and military conditions" for the release of Morris and Dalton.

In an interview with Reuters in April, the ELN's commander in Arauca said the United States would become the "biggest enemy in our political and military struggle" if Washington sent the troops to Arauca. The commander, identified as Pablo, never mentioned kidnapping journalists, however.

The Cuban-inspired ELN kidnaps hundreds of people every year for ransom money to pay for their struggle, which they say is to impose socialist reform in a country torn by the divide between rich and poor. The war kills thousands every year.