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Sarkozy: Release Betancourt
06/03/2008 12:29 - (SA)
Bogotá - French President Nicolas Sarkozy suggested that Colombian leftist rebels could persuade some countries that they aren't terrorists by releasing former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.
"One thing is certain: If Ingrid Betancourt is not set free in a humanitarian way, they will never get off the list" of international terrorist organisations, Sarkozy said in an interview broadcast on Wednesday by the Colombian television network RCN.
"If they let Ingrid Betancourt die, of course, there will be no discussion about that," he said. "If they free Ingrid Betancourt, maybe some place in the world will see them a little differently."
The release of Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian kidnapped in 2002 by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, is a "personal commitment" for him and a "national cause" for France, Sarkozy said.
After released hostages said last week that Betancourt was gravely ill, Sarkozy said her "martyrdom is the martyrdom of France".
The French president tried to walk a measured line in the diplomatic crisis sparked by Colombia's weekend attack on FARC rebels hiding in Ecuadorean territory. Outraged by the attack, both Ecuador and ally Venezuela have recalled their diplomats from Bogotá and dispatched troops to the Colombia border.
"I ask for calm on the part of all. I understand the reaction of the Ecuadorean people," Sarkozy said in comments dubbed over in Spanish. "No head of state can accept the idea of their borders being violated."
Acknowledging Colombia's side of the dispute, Sarkozy said he "understood perfectly" that the country had "lived in terror" during the FARC's four-decade insurgency.
"I respect the security plan undertaken by President Uribe" against the rebels, he said.
Sarkozy said he planned to visit Brazil soon and was willing to visit both Colombia and Venezuela to help the Andean neighbours ease tensions.
- AP
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