Colombian president wants army of civilian informants

VALLEDUPAR, Colombia -- Undaunted by a deadly mortar attack during his inauguration the day before, President Alvaro Uribe vowed Thursday to proceed with plans to create a force of 1-million Colombians to report on rebel groups the government has been fighting for years.

"We must overcome fear," Uribe said in the provincial capital of Valledupar. "We do that by everybody getting involved."

It was Uribe's first full day as president of the hemisphere's most troubled nation, and he hardly talked about the attack that killed 19 people as his inauguration ceremony began Wednesday. He kissed and hugged residents under the eye of army snipers on rooftops and as hundreds of other soldiers stood guard nearby.

The plan to recruit citizen informants and equip them with radios to report on rebels was a cornerstone of Uribe's election campaign. He said he may also consider arming the citizen groups.

"Initially, (they) will not have guns because people will kill them to take the weapons, but the defense minister and the high commanders will study under what circumstances the use of arms could be authorized," Uribe said.

Uribe's plan to recruit informants worries human rights groups, who fear civilians will be targeted even more frequently by the outlawed groups, or that they might align themselves with right-wing militias.

Wednesday's mortar attacks, which wounded about 60 in the capital, marked a new phase in the government's war against rebels. Police had not known the rebels possessed projectiles with such range. They were fired from more than a mile away.

Two of the mortars, fired from a house, damaged the presidential palace and wounded police and bodyguards, while at least two others apparently went astray and hit a slum and a middle-class house blocks from the palace.

"It wasn't known that this type of attack was within the capabilities of the terrorists," said Gen. Hector Dario Castro, Bogota's chief of police.

Security officials failed to prevent the attack despite having 20,000 troops and police posted throughout the city, as well as helicopter gunships and a U.S. radar-equipped plane flying overhead.

Three of those who died were children, and 24 people remained hospitalized in serious condition.

Authorities blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The FARC, the largest leftist rebel group in Colombia with some 16,000 combatants, rarely claims responsibility for its actions and has said nothing about Wednesday's attack.

President Bush, who is expected to maintain close ties with Uribe, said those responsible are trying to "kill the aspirations of the Colombian people for a free, prosperous, and democratic state."

Castro, the Bogota police chief, said at least 14 mortar shells were launched via remote control, although some did not detonate.

Jairo Parra, an antiexplosives expert with the secret police, said the technology used in the attacks was similar to that used by the Irish Republican Army.

A year ago, three suspected IRA members were arrested on charges that they were training Colombian rebels in urban terrorism. They are in jail awaiting trial.

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