French President Nicolas Sarkozy offered yesterday to help efforts to swap some 45 hostages for 500 Marxist rebels held in Colombian jails and appealed to the rebel group to free French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.
I "solemnly request the release of Ingrid Betancourt," Sarkozy said in a message to Manuel Marulanda, head of the FARC rebels in Colombia.
"For my part, I pledge to remain personally involved in the search for a humanitarian solution, for the liberation of all the others being held. Moreover, I promise to redouble efforts, if that is desired, to contribute to finding a way out of the Colombian conflict," Sarkozy said in the televised message.
"But at this moment, Mr Marulanda, a woman in danger of dying must be saved," Sarkozy said. "I have a dream: to see Ingrid among her family this Christmas."
"Mr Manuel Marulanda, you can make this dream come true, you can save this woman, you can show the world that FARC understands human imperatives," the French president said. "Mr Marulanda you bear a heavy responsibility. I urge you to assume it."
France has been very interested in Colombia's hostage crisis since Betancourt was kidnapped while campaigning for the Colombian presidency in 2002.
Earlier this week Colombia said it wanted Sarkozy to become involved in helping resolve the impasse in talks to swap some 45 hostages including Betancourt and three Americans for some 500 FARC prisoners held by Colombian authorities.
Colombia's overture to France came in the wake of a raging row between Caracas and Bogota, after Colombian President Alvaro Uribe summarily dismissed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez from his role as go-between during talks between the rebels and the Bogota government.
The French president last week vowed to redouble his efforts to obtain Betancourt's freedom, after recently seized videos of her, looking thin, and 15 other hostages were shown by Colombian authorities to prove they were alive.
Sarkozy sent a separate message to hostages, saying: "France has not forgotten you. She will never forget you."
Calling their videos and letters profoundly distressing, he said: "They showed the face of suffering. They revealed the soul of despair."
"That is why, I want to address you all and send you a message of the solidarity of France. Solidarity with Colombia, which everyday experiences a tragedy in which no one sees any sense; solidarity with you being held unjustly and cruelly as hostages; solidarity with your families and friends who mark the time lost with calendars of memories," Sarkozy said.
In a special message to Betancourt, Sarkozy expressed his "admiration for your dignity, your courage in a situation where others weaker would have lost their humanity."
He urged her to not lose hope for release.
"France refuses to accept the unacceptable. Ingrid, we will never abandon you," he said.
Betancourt's sister Astrid expressed her appreciation to Sarkozy.
"After these days of deep pain, we thank you for your strong gesture, audacious and showing the humanity of Nicolas Sarkozy," she said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not