Nicolas Sarkozy has sent an emissary to Caracas and Bogota and he is suggesting neutral locations - an airplane or a boat - to promote the negotiations.
The negotiations for the hostages (including Ingrid Betancourt) that the FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia] is holding in the Colombian jungle have entered an active phase. Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been very active since he was elected head of state, sent an emissary from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs these past two days to try to untangle the many difficulties in this affair. Talks between the FARC and the Colombian state have been at an impasse for more than eight years. Thousands of innocent hostages in Colombia have paid with their freedom.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has ruled out any possibility of [establishing] a ''demilitarized zone'' for these negotiations. The process is supported by the United States, France, and Venezuela. The negotiations are well under way. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, who has become the mediator between the FARC and the Colombian government, will travel to Bogota on 12 October to meet President Alvaro Uribe there. This new meeting between two leaders who are ideologically opposed in everything says a great deal about how the issue has evolved. Hugo Chavez had been scheduled to meet FARC leaders this coming Monday somewhere in Venezuela in order to begin his mediation. The meeting was cancelled for practical reasons: Alvaro Uribe had not granted any safe-conduct passes for the FARC to leave their hiding places. One Additional Demand

The Colombian head of state, whose father was killed by the FARC, has set four demands in order to accept getting the negotiations started. The first one is the rejection of any ''demilitarized zone'' for the FARC during the negotiations. Mr Uribe has the support of the White House and the Elysee on this as well as on the second condition: after the negotiations, the FARC will have to make a commitment not to return to military life. The third demand is that the FARC will not have any political status in Colombia. This condition is already somewhat weakened by the fact that Venezuela, France and the United States have accepted to sponsor the discussions with this organization, which the European Union considers as being ''terrorist.''
The fourth demand dates from Thursday: Mr Uribe demands that the two FARC leaders (Anayibe Rojas and her companion Ricardo Palmera), who are being held in the United States, not return to Colombia. American Secretary of Defence Robert Gates offered his support to Mr Uribe on this point on Thursday in Bogota.
Clearly, the Colombians are seeking American support before entering into negotiations, while the guerrillas hope to be able to rely on Mr Chavez's Venezuela. France is playing the card of all-out activism in this game.
At stake: the release of Ingrid Betancourt and the FARC's 44 other ''political'' hostages as well as three Americans who are being held by the rebels. The Colombian government has 500 FARC prisoners, who are of little importance to the guerrilla movement. The United States holds the trump card: Rojas and Palmera.
The context is not unfavourable for reaching an agreement: the FARC has been weakened militarily and the Colombian armed forces cannot get the upper hand in this impenetrable jungle. Hugo Chavez, after having built up his popularity by setting himself up as the ''anti-Bush'' herald on the South American continent, must now prepare for the post-Bush era by getting closer to a Congress with a Democratic majority. This is why he has now accepted to take on this personally very risky mediation.