Colombia rebels reject Uribe's hostage deal effort

BOGOTA, June 3 (Reuters) Colombian left-wing rebels today rejected as a ''farce'' a move by President Alvaro Uribe to release nearly 200 jailed guerrillas in hopes of persuading guerrilla commanders to free hostages they have held for years, including a French-Colombian politician and three Americans.

The response from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was a blow to families of hundreds of hostages held for as long as eight years in secret jungle camps as part of Latin America's longest-running rebel insurgency.

The offer by Uribe to release jailed rebels revived hopes the FARC and the government could finally reach an accord on an exchange of guerrillas for about 60 key hostages including dual French-Colombian national Ingrid Betancourt and the three US contract workers kidnapped in 2003.

''The FARC reject the false promises of those who seek to convert the national clamor for an exchange into propaganda to cure the wounds caused by the neoliberal and terrorist policies of an illegal regime like Uribe's,'' the FARC commanders said in a statement on local Anncol news service.

Uribe, a Washington ally, says he will free guerrillas as a unilateral act of good faith he hopes will convince rebels to release their hostages.

Around 146 rebels were transferred recently to a prison outside Bogota to wait for release. They will be monitored by the Catholic Church and observers on release to ensure they are committed to peace, but the FARC dismissed them as traitors.

Uribe's US-backed military campaign has already reduced violence from the conflict by driving the FARC back into the jungles and disarming illegal paramilitary gangs. But the FARC are still fighting, aided by their engagement in the country's huge cocaine smuggling trade.

Betancourt was snatched by rebels in 2002 while campaigning for the presidency and the three US citizens were captured when their light aircraft crashed in the jungle during an anti-drug mission.

France, Spain and Switzerland are all involved in efforts to broker a deal between the government and the FARC, but so far the two sides have failed to hammer out negotiations on exchanging jailed rebels for kidnap victims.

The FARC leadership has repeatedly demanded the government pull back troops from a rural area the size of New York City to facilitate negotiations over the hostages, but Uribe has rejected any demilitarized zone an unacceptable condition.

REUTERS ABM PM2100