PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy used radio and television messages overnight to renew an appeal for Colombian rebels to free French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, who was kidnapped in 2002, and other hostages.
By Swaha Pattanaik
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy used radio and television messages overnight to renew an appeal for Colombian rebels to free French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, who was kidnapped in 2002, and other hostages.
"I have a dream -- to see Ingrid with her family for Christmas," he said in a televised message broadcast overnight and addressed to Manuel Marulanda, the head of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Marxist rebels.
"Mr. Manuel Marulanda, you can make this dream come true, you can save this woman, you can show the world that the FARC understand humanitarian imperatives. Mr. Marulanda, you carry a heavy responsibility. I ask you to assume it."
!ADVERTISEMENT!Sarkozy's move came after Colombia on Tuesday proposed direct talks with FARC guerrillas over releasing hostages, including Betancourt, who was captured during her presidential campaign nearly six years ago, and three U.S. contract workers.
Bogota is under heavy pressure to broker a deal to free the kidnap victims after President Alvaro Uribe on November 21 halted Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Chavez's role in the negotiations, sparking a diplomatic spat.
Proof-of-life videos released by Colombia's government last week sparked an outcry over their plight. One showed Betancourt looking gaunt and despondent in her secret jungle prison.
In a separate radio message also broadcast overnight, Sarkozy sent a message of support to the hostages, in particular Betancourt.
"The documents which have just been published deeply moved us. They show the face of suffering. They reveal the spirit of despair," Sarkozy said, according to the text of his message released by his office.
"To all of you, I want to say, France will not forget you. It will never forget you. Even at this moment, France is looking for new ways to give you back your liberty, to return you to your family and your life."
In his televised message to Marulanda, Sarkozy said he did not share the rebel leader's ideas and condemned his methods but added that France was committed to obtaining the release of the hostages.
"Beyond that, I commit to redoubling the efforts, if it is desired, to contributing to finding a way out of the Colombian conflict," he added.
(Reporting by Swaha Pattanaik; Editing by Anna Willard)
