Bogota, 12/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - Javier Solana, EU High Representative for CFSP, reaffirmed, during his visit to Bogota that the European Union supports an "irreversible" peace process in Columbia (see EUROPE of 10 March, p.6). In an article published by the daily El Tiempo, on the day of his arrival in Bogota, he recalled that the EU has always supported a peace process based on the fundamental respect for human rights and freedoms. There are no easy short-term solutions, he admitted, when raising in particular the scourge of drug trafficking and the corruption that accompanies it.
Four European Union countries - France, Italy, Spain and Sweden - will be part of the good will committee with the guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, with six other countries - Switzerland, Norway, Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba and Canada. The decision was taken after a meeting, close to Bogota, between FARC representatives, which form the main rebel force in Columbia, and 26 "friendly" countries, among which are twelve of the EU Member States. France and Spain are already parties, since last summer, in a similar committee responsible for contacts with the second largest Colombian guerrilla force, the National Liberation Army (ELN).