Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy would be willing to
pick up rebel hostage Ingrid Betancourt personally from South America
in case of her release, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told French
media on Friday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Romania, Kouchner
said if there was hope that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), the rebel group holding Betancourt since 2002, were
to release her, Sarkozy and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez
would travel to the Colombian-Venezuelan border together.
Sarkozy had said earlier that he would be willing to undertake
such a trip.
On Thursday, France sent a humanitarian mission to Colombia to
rescue Betancourt, 46, a former presidential candidate, who holds
dual French-Colombian citizenship.
Betancourt's sister Astrid however had little faith in the success
of such a mission. 'It would be a miracle if the mission was
successful,' she said
Together with several humanitarian organizations she urged
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe not to endanger the hostages' lives
by engaging in military action against FARC.
The hostages' safety could only be guaranteed by creating a
'climate of trust' between FARC and the Colombian government, she
said.
If Uribe was to ignore this request, he was not the democratic
leader he aspired to be, but an executioner of the innocent she said
in an open letter to Uribe.
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