Spain, France and Switzerland have offered in recent weeks to mediate a release of rebels held in Colombian prisons in exchange for hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
FARC has not responded to the mediation proposal, Interior Minister Sabas Pretelt said Monday. He offered to have ambassadors from the three European countries meet with rebels to discuss it.
The plan includes designating a demilitarized zone in Colombia as a venue for talks, something the rebels have demanded.
FARC is holding about 60 hostages - several politicians, including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who is also a French citizen; soldiers, and three U.S. nationals.
After years of resisting the move, President Alvaro Uribe's government said last summer it was willing to talk about a prisoner swap.
FARC's demands have included the release of two top commanders in U.S. custody who are facing trial on drug trafficking and abduction charges. The government has said that some FARC prisoners would be excluded from an exchange.
FARC and other leftist rebels have been waging civil war in Colombia for 41 years. The conflict has become tied up with the country's illegal drug trade.
On Saturday, FARC fighters shot two Christmas Eve travellers and injured four others, Colombian authorities said.
FARC had set up a roadblock on a country road in central Colombia to allegedly take hostages as people were driving home for the Christmas holidays. The cars and busses refused to stop, whereupon the rebels opened fire on the vehicles.
The dead reportedly were a bus driver and a cattle herder.
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