Colombia: France offers hostage medical mission

BOGOTA (Reuters) - France has offered a medical mission to treat sick hostages held in the jungles by Colombian guerrillas, including French-Colombian captive Ingrid Betancourt, Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe said on Tuesday.

Uribe, speaking after a conversation with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said Colombia would halt military operations in the area once the mission provides coordinates where it will treat hostages who are sick after years in jungle camps.

"President Sarkozy has told me the humanitarian mission is in movement to attend to the health of the hostages," Uribe said. "Once authorities are informed by the mission about the coordinates ... we will allow this mission to do its work."

It was unclear whether the French mission had started. But the announcement came hours after Sarkozy appealed for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to free Betancourt who he said is close to death after more than six years in guerrilla captivity.

Any successful mission to treat the captives would be the first contact for years with some of the hostages, whom FARC rebels say they want to exchange for jailed guerrilla fighters.

Attempts to secure a deal to free hostages, who also include three Americans, are deadlocked over a rebel demand that Uribe demilitarize an area in the south of Colombia for a safe haven to facilitate talks. But the FARC has released six captives in a deal brokered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

(Reporting by Patrick Markey in Bogota, editing by Vicki Allen)