Deadline for reviving Columbian peace talks passes

SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, Colombia -- A deadline for reviving peace talks between Colombia's government and main rebel army passed Saturday night, with the rebels saying the president had not responded to their last-minute proposals.

A few minutes after the deadline, leaders of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia said they sent President Andres Pastrana a draft agreement proposing that a commission be formed to investigate the security controls that had led the rebels to abandon the peace talks in October.

The rebels said Pastrana had not yet responded. A United Nations mediator said the president wanted time to consider the proposals.

At stake was a peace process started three years ago to bring an end to 38 years of civil war that claims some 3,500 lives a year. Pastrana had declared the talks over Wednesday, and threatened to send troops back into a vast safe haven granted to the rebels, known by the Spanish acronym FARC, when the talks began.

But the next day, he gave U.N. envoy James LeMoyne until 9:30 p.m. Saturday to revive peace talks, which the rebels suspended after the army began military overflights of their safe haven and increased patrols along its border.

"I sincerely hope that these efforts permit (both sides) to find a solution to the crisis and continue with the peace process -- the other alternative is war," LeMoyne said after the deadline passed.