BOGOTA (voa) – A U.S. delegation in Bogota says the Bush administration will ask Congress to fund efforts by Colombia’s military to protect a key oil pipeline from rebel attacks.
The delegation led by Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman said Tuesday the proposal calls for 98-million dollars to train and equip Colombian soldiers. They would guard the 780-kilometer Cano Limon pipeline in eastern Colombia that carries oil for the U.S. firm, Occidental Petroleum.
The pipeline was bombed 170 times last year, 13 times so far this year, and is currently shut down for repairs. The funding proposal may face opposition in Congress, because some lawmakers reportedly fear it would be a step closer to involving U.S. troops in Colombia’s 38-year civil war. The Bush administration has until the end of the month to decide whether to release millions of dollars in military aid to Colombia. So far, U.S. military aid to Colombia has been mostly limited to efforts to wipe out drug crops, which finance the rebels and paramilitary groups.
The government of President Andres Pastrana has proposed a six-month cease-fire to the country’s largest leftist rebel insurgency, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Officials have been engaged in a series of negotiations with the guerrilla group, known as the FARC, in an attempt to end the civil war that has left 40,000 people dead in the past decade. The two sides set April seventh as a deadline to reach a cease-fire agreement. The 17,000 member FARC has not commented on the offer.
In a related development, the German Press Agency says suspected rebels of the National Liberation Army have bombed an aqueduct in northern Colombia’s Cesar department, leaving 20,000 people without running water. The leftist rebel group, known as the ELN, is Colombia’s second-largest guerrilla force. Last week, ELN representatives met with Colombian government negotiators to discuss ways of achieving peace.
Colombia’s conflict involves leftist rebels, government forces and right-wing paramilitary groups.
