Colombian Rebels Free Kidnapped US, UK Journalists

abcnews.go.com Feb. 1 — By Jose Miguel Gomez

ARAUCA, Colombia (Reuters) - Marxist rebels freed a British reporter and U.S. photographer on Saturday after holding them hostage for nearly two weeks in a violent stretch of eastern Colombia, ending the kidnapping saga with a rural handoff to the Red Cross.

British reporter Ruth Morris and U.S. photographer Scott Dalton appeared to be in good health and spirits as they arrived in a Red Cross van at a small airport in battle-scared Arauca province.

They chatted with Red Cross officials but made no public comments, and were expected to soon board a Red Cross plane for the nation's capital, about 280 miles away.

Morris and Dalton were abducted on Jan. 21 while traveling on freelance assignment for The Los Angeles Times along a rural road in war-torn Arauca province, where U.S. special forces have begun training local troops in counterinsurgency techniques.

Forces with the Cuban-inspired National Liberation Army, or ELN, stopped the two at a road block, hooded them and took them to a secret guerrilla camp, according to their driver, who was later released. The United States brands the ELN a "terrorist" organization.

Until the kidnapping of Morris and Dalton, foreign journalists had covered Colombia's raging guerrilla war with a certain "diplomatic immunity." Leftist rebels and right paramilitary gunmen often give interviews to foreign press.

Attacks against local journalists, however, are frequent and have made Colombia one of the most dangerous places in the world for reporters. Eight Colombian journalists were killed last year alone.

The ELN denied the two reporters were ever kidnapped, insisting they were "detained" due to security procedures. Their release followed a decision from senior rebel commanders, made public on Jan 28.

Arauca, an oil-rich region of savannas and swamps bordering Venezuela, is one of focal points in Colombia's four-decade war. The conflict is partly funded by the world's largest cocaine industry, along with kidnapping for ransom.

Suspected rebels last week killed six soldiers after detonating the fourth car bomb in a month in a fresh challenge to hard-line President Alvaro Uribe. Uribe has declared areas in Arauca as "special war zones."

A group of 70 U.S. Special Forces personnel are there to train local troops to protect a key oil pipeline, serving an oil field operated by U.S. oil firm Occidental Petroleum (), from rebel attack.

Arrival of the Special Forces marked a new level of U.S. involvement in Colombia's conflict, although Washington has provided about $2 billion in mainly military aid aimed against the country's huge cocaine industry.