France restarts bid to free Colombia FARC hostages

By Patrick Markey

BOGOTA (Reuters) - France restarted its efforts to free Colombian rebel hostages on Monday, just weeks after guerrillas rejected a medical mission to treat French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, who has spent six years in jungle captivity.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner flew into Bogota in the first leg of a three-nation tour during which he will also meet Ecuador's president and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who negotiated the release of six rebel captives this year.

Kouchner planned to address lingering diplomatic tensions among the three Andean countries after the Colombian military attacked a rebel camp inside Ecuador in March, killing a top commander and setting off a week-long regional crisis.

But hopes for a deal to free captives have dimmed as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, commanders hardened their stance after the attack. They rejected the emergency medical mission Paris sent to try to treat Betancourt, who is said to be ill, in their jungle camps.

"The message is very simple, that we will keep on working to find a way to free the hostages," French Ambassador Jean-Michel Marlaud told local Caracol radio in Bogota.

"Tensions among the three countries are complicating efforts to free the hostages," he said.

Colombia's decades-long conflict has eased under President Alvaro Uribe, a U.S. ally who has sent troops to retake areas under the control of armed groups. The FARC is still fighting in remote areas aided by funds from cocaine trafficking.

Betancourt, three U.S. contractors and more than 30 local politicians, troops and police are key hostages the FARC wants to swap for jailed rebels, including three fighters held in U.S. prisons.

The renewed French efforts could bring some relief to families of kidnap victims, some of whom have been held for more than a decade in secret campsites in Colombia's southern jungles, where guerrillas are still a potent force.

"Hopefully this will be the last birthday he spends in captivity," said Marta Arango de Lizcano, whose husband, Oscar Lizcano, a former lawmaker, passed another birthday in FARC hands on Monday, eight years after his kidnapping.

FAILED FRENCH MISSION

France sent a medical mission this month to treat Betancourt, who fellow hostages say suffers from hepatitis and has been chained up after attempts to flee. But the FARC rejected it because Paris failed to secure a prior agreement.

In March, Colombian troops bombed inside Ecuador, killing Raul Reyes, a top rebel leader who had been engaged in talks with France and with a left-wing Colombian senator close to Chavez over a deal to free hostages.

Rebels say his death has put a halt to any more individual releases like those arranged by Chavez.

A self-styled socialist revolutionary, Chavez is seen by hostages' families and some analysts as key to any hostage negotiations with the Marxist rebels.