BOGOTA (Reuters):

Colombian rebels will not move to free hostages including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt until the government demilitarises an area for negotiating a prisoner swap, a top guerrilla leader said.

In a local newspaper interview published yesterday, Raul Reyes, number two commander of the 17,000-member Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, said hostages such as Betancourt and three American defence contractors will be kept in secret jungle camps until a safe-haven zone is established.

But President Alvaro Uribe, popular for his U.S.-backed military crackdown on the Marxist insurgents, has based his security policy on never ceding territory to the rebels by withdrawing Colombian troops from the field.