Colombia's FARC rebel group says `kidnapping days are over' (NEWS)

(VIDEO: Life Inside FARC/AlJazeera, May 2011)

This weekend, Colombia's main armed opposition group announced that it is abandoning the practice of kidnapping and will soon free its last remaining "prisoners of war" - 10 security force members held for as long as 14 years.

The left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) announced on its website that it would no longer kidnap civilians "for financial ends," unequivocally renouncing for the first time a tool it long used against Colombia's elite as well as foreigners.

"We wish to announce that in addition to our plans to free six prisoners of war, we will free the four others who remain under our power," the Farc said.

It did not provide a date for the release of the 10 security force members, two fewer than the government has said the guerillas hold.

Kidnapping civilians for ransom had helped sustain the armed struggle against the Colombian state, it said, but "from this day on we are halting the practice in our revolutionary activity."

It was not clear whether an order had been given to release ransom-kidnap victims currently held by the guerillas.

The organisation is known to currently hold four foreigners, all Chinese oil workers abducted last June. Sunday's announcement could advance prospects for a peace dialogue sought by the Farc.  

The government has insisted that it end all kidnappings as a first step.  But the rebels did not say that they were abandoning hostilities.

They have recently stepped up hit-and-run attacks and the military blames them for a bombing and mortar attack on two police posts in the past month that killed 15 people and wounded nearly 100, most of them civilians.

The Farc has been releasing captives piecemeal since early 2008 and some have been rescued by the military in operations such as the July 2008 ruse that freed a group including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three US military contractors.

The guerillas and the government have not provided any figures on how many civilians are currently held.

Colombian police said the Farc kidnapped 72 people during the first 11 months of 2011.

-- Originally published by The Morning Star