Ecuador leader says to quit if rebel links proved

QUITO, May 17 (Reuters) - Ecuador President Rafael Correa on Saturday said he would quit if there is proof he had any links with Colombian guerrillas, raising the stakes in a spat with neighbor Colombia, which accuses him of harboring rebels.

Accusations that Correa and his ally Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez helped Colombian guerrillas stem from data found in the laptops of a slain rebel leader authenticated by the international police agency Interpol earlier this week. The disclosure has raised regional tensions.

"If I had the most minimal relation with the FARC as candidate or as president I will resign as president," Correa said in his weekly radio address. "We have never received illegal (campaign) contributions."

The popular ex-college professor said he handed over proof of his innocence to the Organization of American States amid accusations he also received money contributions from rebels during his presidential campaign in 2006.

The diplomatic row highlighted deep divisions in the Andean region between U.S.-backed Colombia and Washington's fierce critics Ecuador and Venezuela.

Ecuador earlier this year severed diplomatic ties with Bogota and tensions have remained high after Colombia bombed a rebel camp inside Ecuador, killing a top leader of Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC and seizing his laptops.

The March 1 raid briefly raised the threat of war after Correa and Chavez sent troops to their borders with Colombia.

Correa accused Colombian President Alvaro Uribe of leading a smear campaign against him to divert attention from a scandal involving his allies at home and violent paramilitary groups.

Both countries share a 400-mile-long (600-km-long) porous border that is often crossed by Colombian guerrillas to set up camps and plot attacks against the Uribe's government.

(Reporting by Alonso Soto; editing by Cynthia Osterman)