20000307

30 killed in

Colombian

clashes

BOGOTA: At least 30 people have died in Colombia so far this weekend in violent clashes between right-wing paramilitaries and leftist rebels, according to the Colombian authorities.

The right-wing Self-Defence Units of Colombia (AUC) killed at least six peasants in a massacre at Yondo, 380 kilometres north of Bogota on the Magdalena River, according to Mayor Eliseo Gaona.

Gaona said armed men also kidnapped two farm workers from San Luis de Yondo, and said he feared the workers had been killed and thrown into the river.

The killings came four days after AUC Chief Carlos Castano publicly said he regretted none of the killings carried out by the organisation's 11,200 members.

Speaking on Caracol television, Castano said it was "the irregular nature of the conflict that forces us to take these decisions ... the killings are a necessary evil."

The AUC was responsible for killing 50 peasants in another massacre three weeks ago in the north of the country.

AUC and paramilitary forces are in a fight to the death with leftist guerrillas around the country.

The battle between the two factions regularly involves attacks against civilians who are caught in the middle, as both view them as an ally of the other.

Since 1964 the civil war has claimed 120,000 lives and displaced two million Colombians.

The US President Bill Clinton is trying to get Congress to approve a 1.3 billion dollar aid package for Pastrana's peace and economic development plan. Eighty percent of the money is destined to bolster equipment and training for the military to cope better with rising drug trafficking and guerrilla warfare.ÑAFP