Last members of feared Colombian militia disarm

BOGOTA, Colombia - The last fighters of Colombia's most feared paramilitary militia, the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, blamed for the killing of thousands of civilians, laid down their weapons on Tuesday, the government said.

The last 1,765 members of the paramilitary army known by its Spanish initials AUC handed in their arms to the government in the town of Casibare in Meta province, central Colombia, in a ceremony presided over by government peace negotiator Luis Carlos Restrepo.

All of the AUC's 30,140 members have now handed in their arms in a demobilization that began in late 2003, said Restrepo, announcing the end of an organization classified as "terrorist" by the United States and responsible for many of the worst human rights abuses in Colombia in recent years.

"We can say that the AUC formally stopped existing today," Restrepo said.

President Alvaro Uribe says the demobilization -- achieved in return for the promise of freedom in civilian life or steeply reduced jail sentences for crimes including murder -- are a major factor in the sharp fall in violence related to Colombia's four-decade-old guerrilla war.

But the United Nations and many analysts say the demobilization has not ended the AUC's influence or dismantled its criminal and cocaine-smuggling infrastructure.

And several thousand other far-right paramilitaries, who are not members of the AUC, have yet to hand in their weapons.

The AUC and other paramilitary groups have their origins in vigilante groups set up by cocaine smugglers and cattle ranchers to protect themselves from Marxist rebels.

They quickly earned international notoriety for their tactic of killing peasants they suspected of collaborating with the guerrillas, often using brutal methods.

Courts have established that factions within the army worked together with the AUC to fight the rebels, and many analysts credit the paramilitary offensive with severely weakening the Marxist revolt. The government says soldiers cooperating with the AUC are criminals.

While negotiating with the AUC, close Washington ally Uribe has stepped up military action against the largest rebel army, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. But the government is moving toward peace talks with a smaller Marxist rebel group.

Uribe's security policies have given him an approval rating of about 70 per cent and polls predict he will win a second four-year term in the May 28 presidential election.

His opponents have seized upon accusations of links between Uribe supporters and the paramilitaries -- although so far, his standing in the polls has not been hurt.

- REUTERS