France Concerned By Colombia Plan To Free Hostages

France on Saturday criticised a decision by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to send in the army to free a French-Colombian national.

France on Saturday criticised a decision by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to send in the army to free a French-Colombian national and three Americans held hostage by leftist guerrillas.

Uribe on Friday ordered the military to hunt for the four, who have been held by leftist guerrillas for some years, after an escaped hostage said he saw them just weeks ago.

"We are verifying what Mr. Uribe has said exactly," a spokesman for French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on France Info radio.

"We are against any military action that could endanger the lives of the hostages."

One of the hostages is Ingrid Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate who also holds French nationality and whose plight is closely followed in France. Paris City Hall has erected a large poster of her outside the building.

Betancourt, born in Botoga, studied in France and obtained French nationality when she married a fellow student.

FARC guerrillas captured Betancourt and her assistant Clara Rojas in February 2002 while she was campaigning for president.

The Americans -- Thomas Howes, Marc Gonsalves and Keith Stansell -- were captured in 2003 after their surveillance plane crashed while spotting coca crops used to make cocaine.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy met Betancourt's two children in Paris on Friday, where he said he would help seek her release.

France has put pressure on Colombia in the past to seek a negotiated settlement with the FARC over the hostages.

Uribe announced the moves to free them after an escaped hostage, police officer Jhon Frank Pinchao, said he had seen other hostages less than three weeks ago.

This was the first concrete detail about Betancourt and the three Americans since rebels released videos of them in 2003.