Red Cross demands Colombia clarify use of emblem
BOGOTA, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Colombia must clarify an apparently "deliberate misuse" of the Red Cross symbol in a hostage rescue after a video revealed new details of the mission, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday.
Intelligence officers disguised as aid workers tricked Marxist FARC rebels into handing over hostages including French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans in July.
President Alvaro Uribe last month apologized, saying one of the officers involved slipped on a Red Cross vest when he got nervous during the mission after seeing so many rebels on the ground waiting for his helicopter to land.
But video of the July 2 operation, leaked this week to Colombia's RCN television, drew criticism after images showed one soldier appearing to wear a vest with the Red Cross symbol at the start of the rescue operation.
"If authenticated, these images could clearly establish an improper use of the red cross emblem, which we deplore," the agency's deputy director of operations, Dominik Stillhart, said in a statement. "We are in contact with the Colombian authorities to ask for further clarifications."
Falsely using the Red Cross symbol, which represents the neutrality of the aid group, is against the Geneva Conventions as it could put humanitarian workers at risk when they are working in war zones.
Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said he and other high-ranking officials were not fully informed about the details of the mission. He has called for an investigation into how the video of the mission was made and then leaked.
The rescue of Betancourt, a former presidential candidate kidnapped in 2002, the three American contract workers and 11 other hostages has been praised as one of Uribe's greatest successes against the FARC -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Uribe's U.S.-backed campaign has driven the rebels back into remote areas and sharply reduced violence from the Andean country's four-decade-old conflict. (Reporting by Patrick Markey; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Intelligence officers disguised as aid workers tricked Marxist FARC rebels into handing over hostages including French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans in July.
President Alvaro Uribe last month apologized, saying one of the officers involved slipped on a Red Cross vest when he got nervous during the mission after seeing so many rebels on the ground waiting for his helicopter to land.
But video of the July 2 operation, leaked this week to Colombia's RCN television, drew criticism after images showed one soldier appearing to wear a vest with the Red Cross symbol at the start of the rescue operation.
"If authenticated, these images could clearly establish an improper use of the red cross emblem, which we deplore," the agency's deputy director of operations, Dominik Stillhart, said in a statement. "We are in contact with the Colombian authorities to ask for further clarifications."
Falsely using the Red Cross symbol, which represents the neutrality of the aid group, is against the Geneva Conventions as it could put humanitarian workers at risk when they are working in war zones.
Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said he and other high-ranking officials were not fully informed about the details of the mission. He has called for an investigation into how the video of the mission was made and then leaked.
The rescue of Betancourt, a former presidential candidate kidnapped in 2002, the three American contract workers and 11 other hostages has been praised as one of Uribe's greatest successes against the FARC -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Uribe's U.S.-backed campaign has driven the rebels back into remote areas and sharply reduced violence from the Andean country's four-decade-old conflict. (Reporting by Patrick Markey; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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