BOGOTA, May 19 (UPI) -- Colombia's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, offered Sunday to begin peace negotiations with the Colombian government in exchange for the demilitarization of two of the country's provinces.
The Columbian government immediately rejected the proposal, which came in a written statement from FARC's General Secretariat presented by the leftist rebels' former chief negotiator Carlos Lozada.
In their statement, the rebels said they were aware of the need for a political solution to the country's 38-year-old civil war, which has claimed an estimated 40,000 lives in the last 10 years alone.
FARC leadership said it would be prepared to reopen a dialogue with Colombia's next president and that it would be willing to talk to any of the candidates elected in next Sunday's presidential elections.
In exchange for beginning peace talks, FARC requested the government demilitarize the provinces of Putumayo and Caqueta and stop referring to them as terrorists or drugs-traffickers.
FARC also said it wanted government ministers and state officials to condemn the actions of right-wing paramilitary groups grouped under the umbrella of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known by the acronym AUC.
AUC reportedly enjoys the support of some government officials and military officers, and FARC called on the government to make destroying the paramilitary groups an official state priority.
FARC also requested that any member of the armed forces or police involved in paramilitary activity be suspended from duty and face trial.
The Colombian government instantly rejected FARC's proposals. Interior Minister Armando Estrada Villa said the "country would not accept any further surrender of territory."
The last experiment in providing FARC with land in exchange for peace took place in 1998 when the newly elected government of President Andres Pastrana granted the rebels a "safe haven" the size of Switzerland in an attempt to restart the peace process.
The experiment proved a disaster. FARC grew wealthy by reportedly taxing the growth and processing of illegal drugs in its "safe haven," and Pastrana ended the arrangement in February after the rebels' high-profile kidnapping of Sen. Jorge Gechen.
"They are setting conditions that this country cannot accept," Estrada said Sunday. "Demilitarizing two entire regions would mean giving them 15 or 20 times more land than the former safe haven that caused so much damage to the country."
The minister said, though, that he was encouraged that FARC seemed willing to discuss a negotiated settlement, but he said peace negotiations could only take place after the rebels had announced a binding cease-fire.
"The country will not accept any new negotiations while there is still a confrontation and war going on," he said.
The interior minister also advised the rebels that if they want the government to stop referring to them as terrorists then they should refrain from committing terrorist acts.
He said events such as the recent Bojaya massacre in which FARC killed 119 peasant farmers and their families "means they deserve their reputation."
Front-running presidential candidate Alvaro Uribe Vélez also rejected the rebels' offer. The hard-line independent candidate has pledged to step up military action against the country's rebels if elected.
Uribe said it was "out of the question" to grant the rebels a second safe haven. He added that he would only talk to FARC if they cease their military campaign and guerilla attacks.
Uribe's father was killed by the leftist rebels during a failed kidnapping attempt and he himself was the target of a FARC car-bomb attack in April.
