A powerful U.S. Senate committee wants to link funds used to fight drugs in Colombia to the South American country's effort to dismantle paramilitary groups there, dpa reported. The action of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which decides how much money each government agency receives, puts it at odds with the White House, which has said funding for the Andean Counterdrug Initiative should not be curbed. But the Senate wants to make 12.5 per cent of the money given to the Colombian armed forces contingent on its efforts to fight paramilitary forces. The funds would be paid only if the commander of the Colombian forces suspends any member of the military who has been "credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights, including extra-judicial killings, or to have aided or abetted paramilitary organizations," the funding measure said. The bill would also require the Colombian government to prosecute those military members and to dismantle the leadership and financial network of paramilitary forces. Under the legislation, the U.S. secretary of state would also need to determine that the Colombian military has made "substantial progress in cooperating with civilian prosecutors and judicial authorities" in cases where members of the military are credibly alleged to have committed human rights abuses. --SP 0006 Local Time 2106 GMT
