WORLD BULLETIN

Colombian Marxists snub Church's mediation efforts
COLOMBIA'S largest Marxist guerrilla group has said it will not accept the Catholic Church as a mediator in its armed conflict with the government.
Raul Reyes, spokesman for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, told the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina that the Catholic Church was not acting impartially.
The Church "excluded itself by favouring the government of President Alvaro Uribe", Reyes said.
Historically, the Church has acted as a mediator in efforts to free several of those hundreds of people kidnapped by the guerrillas, as well as in attempts to end the nation's 40-year-old civil war. In recent weeks the guerrillas released three highprofile hostages to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.