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| Mission launched for Betancourt |
| France, Spain and Switzerland have launched a humanitarian mission to bring medical aid to a sick hostage held by rebels in Colombia
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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 3-April-2008
10:26:24 AM |
| Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt needs a blood transfusion within hours to stay alive, according to her son.
Lorenzo Delloye said his mother, who is also a French national, has hepatitis B and a skin disease that require a transfusion "in the coming hours".
A French plane carrying the mission landed in Colombia before dawn.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said: "We have high hopes. We have done all we humanly could and now we need to wait for our envoys, the doctor, to reach the field."
There has been no word from Farc that they will allow access to Ms Betancourt, who was captured by left-wing rebel group in 2002 while campaigning for the Colombian presidency.
'In danger'
French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the mission after Colombia agreed to suspend military operations against the rebels.
"A humanitarian mission of three facilitator countries, Spain, France and Switzerland, has started, in liaison with concerned authorities," a statement from the French president's office said
Mr Sarkozy said Ms Betancourt was "in danger of imminent death".
Mr Delloye made an 11th-hour appeal at a news conference in Paris on Wednesday.
"This is my last appeal. There's no more time. Either we free mom and the other hostages or we'll lose them, and that's a question of hours," he was quoted as saying by Associated Press (AP).
Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe said the French mission, accompanied by the International Committee of the Red Cross, had his full backing.
"We have expressed our complete agreement to allow this international medical mission to make contact with the hostages and treat them," he said.
The BBC's Jeremy McDermott reports from Colombia that there is as yet no indication from Farc that they are ready to give up their most high-profile hostage.
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