Colombia to set up international commission to free hostages
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-11-21 11:36

Colombia will set up an international commission charged with the task to free hostages taken by the country's largest guerilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), said Colombian president Alvaro Uribe on Sunday.

Colombia's peace commissioner, Luis Carlos Restrepo, was appointed to set up the commission and would work with the commission to "bring forward a humanitarian deal to free the hostages in the hands of the FARC," said Uribe in a statement.

The statement came days after the country's communist weekly Voz (The Voice) published reports about possible attempts to free the hostages by military means.

The FARC now holds 59 hostages, including politicians, business people, police and three United States citizens. Former presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt, was one of the most famous among them. Some of the hostages have been held for as long as seven years.

The mother of Betancourt made a public appeal on Sunday, calling on the president not to attempt a military rescue of hostages.

The FARC wants to exchange their hostages for 500 jailed guerillas. The negotiations between the guerillas and the government have failed to produce any result during the last three years.