www.csmonitor.com from the February 05, 2003 edition

American troops arrived recently to train local soldiers in how to guard pipelines.

By Rachel Van Dongen | Special to The Christian Science Monitor BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA – In a sign of how important protecting oil has become to the US, 70 Army Green Berets are training Colombian soldiers how to guard a 500-mile stretch of oil pipeline in a lawless portion of the country.

Every drop of oil has taken on new significance for Washington as uncertainty grows in the petroleum-rich Middle East, and a two-month strike in neighboring Venezuela has slowed exports from there.

That means more attention on relatively small producers like Colombia, where the oil potential ranks behind Mexico, Venezuela, and even Brazil, analysts say.

"It's not so much that Colombia is a large oil supplier, or that it is the most important oil supplier," says Amy Jaffe, a senior energy analyst at the James A. Baker Center for Public Policy at Rice University. "It's really more a timing issue."

But US priorities in Colombia, the 10th-largest oil supplier to the US, have been shifting for some time. American troops are now authorized to train Colombian troops to fight rebels rather than just intercept drugs.

Six months ago, Congress authorized $98 million for equipment and troops to help protect the pipeline from guerrilla attacks.

Guarding Caño-Limón is the first step in this new policy, which was designed to help protect infrastructure such as roads and electrical towers from rebel attacks.

Oil "is an increasing priority" in Colombia, says Adam Isacson, an analyst at the Washington-based Center for International Policy, which supports demilitarization of the Colombian conflict. "It could even make the difference in [stabilizing] the price of oil," he says.

But first, the political situation must be stabilized in the violence-ridden state of Arauca, where the majority of rebel attacks against the pipeline occur. Arauca has seen four car bombs, the murder of 30 people, and the kidnapping of two Western journalists - who were released last week - since the start of 2003.

The mouth of the Caño-Limón complex sits in the middle of the dusty road between Saravena and Arauca City in northeastern Colombia, just six miles from the Venezuelan border.

In 2001, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) bombed the pipeline 170 times, stalling production for seven months and causing a loss of $500 million to the Colombian government. In 2002, as Colombian protection grew, rebel attacks decreased, but it is still a prime target.

Occidental Petroleum spokes- man Larry Meriage, calls the arrival of US troops "reassuring." He points to a December explosion outside the Caño-Limón complex that killed two and wounded 11 Colombian Occidental security contractors.

Mr. Meriage says Occidental, which owns a large stake in the Caño-Limón pipeline, is exploring other opportunities in Colombia's upper Magdalena Valley and the central Llanos basin.

Security will come from 70 members of the 7th Special Forces Group based at Fort Bragg, N.C. who arrived in Colombia two weeks ago to train local troops. A US official, who requested anonymity, said he was unaware of any other military unit directly deployed to help protect an oil pipeline.

The American troops will train about 450 Colombian men for eight to 10 weeks in basic infantry skills, intelligence, and rapid- response to rebel threats.

Of the $88 million that is certain to be used for what is known as the "infrastructure security program," US officials said $71 million would be provided for badly needed helicopters - the pipeline brigade currently has none - and $17 million for actual training programs.

The same official said that once training of a battalion had been completed, another Special-Forces unit would move in and begin schooling a second Colombian unit. The goal is to train about 900 Colombian soldiers by the end of 2003.

Colombian troops have a pragmatic view of the American presence. "The United States is interested in oil the same way it interests any other country in the world," says Maj. Julio Burgos of the 18th Brigade. "There is a US company that has its interests in this country. The US is defending its interests."

Analysts say maintaining the flow in Colombia contributes to political stability in the region. Michelle Foss, an energy specialist at the University of Houston, suggests that American involvement in protecting the pipeline had to do with geopolitical interests in South and Central America, which depend more heavily on Colombian oil.

english.eastday.com

Colombian authorities declared a curfew in the northeastern province of Arauca on Sunday after rebels dynamited an electrical transmission line there.

The provincial governor Oscar Munoz said that mayors have been instructed to take appropriate security measures, one of which is to impose a curfew.

But the capital city of Arauca was not included, Munoz added.

Arauca, a province bordering Venezuela, is one of the most violent areas in Colombia. There are several rebel groups operating there, including the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Police blamed both leftist groups for the attack late Saturday.

The area will be without electricity for about four days, authorities said.

Colombia has been ravaged by a four-decades-old civil war. The conflict kills about 3,500 people every year, most of them civilians.

President Alvaro Uribe, who took office last August, has vowed to step up the crackdown on illegal armed groups. He declared special security zones in Arauca, sent more government troops there and appointed a hard-liner as governor, in his efforts to bring security to the province.

Xinhua News

abcnews.go.com The Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia Feb. 2 —

Ruth Morris thought she was an expert on kidnapping, having worked in Colombia as a journalist for five years. But she says nothing could have prepared her for the 11 days she and American photographer Scott Dalton spent in the clutches of leftist rebels.

Morris, a 35-year-old British citizen raised in southern California, said she was sometimes so scared she had to force herself to eat the rice, spaghetti and fish provided by the rebels.

The two veteran journalists, released to the Red Cross on Saturday, said they were never harmed but were constantly worried what their fate would be and how their families were dealing with their abduction.

Morris and Dalton, 34, of Conroe, Texas, were the first foreign journalists to be kidnapped in Colombia's four-decade-long war.

Both live in Bogota and had been in Arauca on assignment for the Los Angeles Time when they were stopped at a roadblock by the National Liberation Army on Jan. 21, then led away with hoods over their heads.

Their taxi driver, who was released a day later, said the rebels told him they planned to grant the journalists an interview with a senior commander, or send them back with a communique. But two days later the rebels said over a clandestine radio station that the pair had been "detained" by the insurgents, who complained about the U.S. military presence in Arauca.

At one point, the rebels demanded a halt to Colombian military operations in the northeastern state but then backed off the demand.

The National Liberation Army and a larger rebel group are fighting U.S.-backed government troops and an outlawed paramilitary group for control of oil-rich Arauca, which is about twice the size of New Jersey.

On their sixth day in captivity, the journalists were marched down the mountain where they were being held at a rebel camp. Morris thought she was about to be freed. Instead they were taken to another rebel camp.

"It was as if someone had removed my heart," she said.

The guerrillas told the journalists they were being held for a $50 million ransom and warned them they'd be shot if they tried to escape.

Colombia has the highest kidnapping rate in the world. Last year, 3,000 people were abducted.

Morris had written extensively about the problem and was even preparing a television documentary on it. But she never thought she was personally at risk.

"It never occurred to me that we would be kidnapped by the guerrillas," said Morris, speaking from a Bogota hotel where she and Dalton were recuperating hours after their release. "It was something that I didn't think could happen."

The kidnapping was apparently not planned, rather a spur-of-the-moment decision by a rebel at the roadblock, who would remain with them throughout most of the 11 days.

"He told me at one point that he was proud to have been the person to have made that decision, that they don't see many foreigners in those parts and they just couldn't give up the opportunity," said Morris, who also has reported for Time magazine and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Although they were guarded by several armed guerrillas at all times, the two journalists were allowed some freedom of movement. Almost every day, Morris walked to a nearby river, where she would bathe and wash her clothes. She also wrote scrupulously in her notebook.

Every evening, she and Dalton would play gin rummy before going to sleep.

"I won the first couple of nights, but she caught on pretty quickly," said Dalton, who worked for The Associated Press for nine years before leaving to pursue freelance projects last year. "I'd say we ended even."

Speaking from the hotel after showering and shaving, Dalton said he would spend part of Sunday with friends watching a taped broadcast of the NFL Super Bowl that he missed while in captivity. Later in the week, he planned to fly to Texas to see his family.

"We were always confident we'd be freed eventually," said Dalton, his bug-bitten legs the only visible evidence of his ordeal.

www.jamaicaobserver.com Sunday, February 02, 2003

American photographer Scott Dalton waves before boarding a Red Cross plane at the Saravena airport, on the eastern border with Venezuela, after being released by rebels of the National Liberation Army, ELN, yesterday. At right, with hands on her hips is reporter Ruth Morris, a Briton raised in southern California. Dalton and Morris were kidnapped by the ELN, on January 21 while on assignment for the Los Angeles Times. (Photo: AP)

BOGOTA, (AFP) - Colombian rebels freed US photographer Scott Dalton and British reporter Ruth Morris, who were abducted January 21, the International Red Cross said yesterday.

The Los Angeles Times reporters, who were seized in the northeastern province of Arauca, were released "safe and sound" to an International Red Cross team between the towns of Fortul and Tame, in a jungle area some 300 kilometres (186 miles) northeast of Bogota, a Red Cross spokesman said. "They are doing well, and they are being taken to the airport in the town of Saravena to be brought back to Bogota," spokesman Carlos Rios said.

The two were due to be met upon arrival in Bogota by officials from the US and British embassies, the spokesman said. "They are well in general terms ... but they are undergoing necessary medical checks," Rios added. Bogota had called the kidnapping of Dalton and Morris "a serious mistake" for the ELN, which claims to be seeking peace.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said on Friday last that he wanted the pair's release as soon as possible without "drama." The ELN announced on Wednesday it had abducted the pair in Arauca province, where US soldiers are training Colombian troops to protect a key oil pipeline from rebel attacks.

But the group said it would "guarantee the life and safety" of the two and would release them "when political and military conditions warrant it." Also operating in the oil-producing Arauca province, which shares a border with Venezuela, are rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and far-right paramilitaries of the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Colombia leads the world in kidnappings, with more than 3,000 people taken hostage each year by rebels and drug gangs. It also has the world's highest fatality rate for journalists, with 114 killed since 1989, according to the head of the Inter-American Press Association's press freedom committee. Last week, US diplomats in Colombia were working to ensure the safe passage back to the United States of three other Americans who were released January 23 by right-wing paramilitaries who had been holding them for almost a week.

Megan Smaker, Mark Wedeven and Robert Young Pelton were handed over at Unguia, in Uraba, some 550 kilometres (340 miles) northwest of Bogota, police said. Paramilitary leader Carlos Castano had said the three were rescued during a gun battle with leftist guerrillas. Both the 4,000-strong ELN, the 17,000-strong FARC, and Castano's AUC have been designated "foreign terrorist organisations" by Washington.

abcnews.go.com The Associated Press SARAVENA, Colombia Feb. 1 —

Leftist guerrillas freed an American photographer and a British reporter on Saturday after kidnapping them 11 days earlier in one of the most violent regions of Colombia.

Scott Dalton, of Conroe, Texas, and Ruth Morris, a British citizen raised in southern California, were the first foreign journalists to be kidnapped in Colombia's four-decade-long war. Both live in Bogota and had been in Arauca on assignment for the Los Angeles Times.

The National Liberation Army, known as the ELN, released the journalists to an International Red Cross delegate in eastern Colombia, not far from where they were abducted, Red Cross spokesman Carlos Rios said.

The pair were driven in a van to a shrapnel- and bullet-scarred airport in Saravena a town in Arauca state near the Venezuelan border. They smiled and waved to reporters, then boarded a Red Cross plane bound for Bogota, the capital.

Their colleagues and friends in the Colombian capital, and those who had traveled to Arauca to cover the kidnapping, were ecstatic after Morris, 35, and Dalton, 34, were freed.

"I'm looking forward to seeing them and giving them a big hug," said Dan Molinski, bureau chief in Bogota for Dow Jones NewsWires.

The two veteran journalists were stopped at an ELN roadblock south of Saravena on Jan. 21, then led away with hoods over their heads. Their taxi driver, who was released a day later, said the rebels had planned to grant the journalists an interview with a senior commander, or send them back with a communique.

But the ELN said two days later over a clandestine rebel radio station that the pair had been "detained" by the insurgents, who complained about the U.S. military presence in Arauca. They later demanded the Colombian military halt offensive operations in the state, which is twice the size of New Jersey, but then appeared to back off the demand.

The 5,000-strong ELN had said the journalists would be released to a humanitarian commission on Friday. But citing security concerns, the commission composed of Catholic church officials, the government human rights ombudsman and others canceled its mission at the last minute.

Lorenzo Karafi, the Red Cross delegate based in Arauca, had been in contact with the ELN since last week trying to facilitate the release. Late Friday, the rebels called him and said they'd free the captives the following day.

The ELN and a larger rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are fighting U.S.-backed government troops and an outlawed paramilitary group for control of oil-rich Arauca.

About 70 U.S. Army special forces troops arrived in Arauca this month to train Colombian Army soldiers in counterinsurgency tactics so they can protect a key oil pipeline that has been frequently blown up by the guerrillas.

President Alvaro Uribe took a tough line against the rebels on Friday, insisting that the hostages be freed without a spectacle. Uribe also warned that government troops would not halt operations in Arauca province in the meantime.

Uribe has vowed to regain control of Arauca as a showcase of his attempts to put this war-riven South American country in order. The state is the site of frequent kidnappings, assassinations, and car bomb explosions.

Dalton worked as a photographer for The Associated Press for about nine years in Panama, Guatemala, and Colombia. He left the AP last year to pursue video projects while freelancing for newspapers.

Morris has written for as a freelancer for The Los Angeles Times, Time magazine, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and other publications.