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Colombian authorities should take immediate steps to protect the civilian population in the area ceded to rebel forces as a safe haven for peace talks, Human Rights Watch said today. Based on research conducted in the rebel-controlled zone of southern Colombia and elsewhere in the country, Human Rights Watch cautioned that paramilitary forces could inflict brutal reprisals against civilians.

"We're worried that the people who live in the zone -- who were never consulted before the area was ceded to the FARC-EP -- risk abuse by paramilitaries who might identify them as pro-guerrilla simply because they remained in their homes, farms, and businesses," said José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch.

Yesterday, Colombian President Andrés Pastrana announced the end of three years of peace negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP) and the immediate recovery of control by the Colombian authorities of the Switzerland-sized zone ceded the guerrillas in late 1998. Pastrana's announcement followed the kidnapping of Senator Jorge Gechem Turbay by the FARC-EP on the same day.

Human Rights Watch called upon the Colombian authorities to act immediately to protect civilians from violence perpetrated by the paramilitaries, in view of the long-standing links between some military units and paramilitary forces, and also to respect international humanitarian law in its military efforts to recover control of the rebel haven. Paramilitaries are responsible for the large majority of massacres and extrajudicial executions that take place in the country.

Human Rights Watch also called upon the FARC-EP to release Senator Gechem Turbay immediately and unconditionally, and to stop victimizing civilians.

"This shocking abduction is unfortunately all too typical of the FARC-EP, which has persisted in committing systematic violations of international humanitarian law," said Vivanco.

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