Colombian oil pipeline attacked

AFP/Bogota

Colombia’s largest oil pipeline was hit by an explosion causing a significant oil spill in an attack blamed on leftist guerrillas, the army said on Monday.

The 780km Limon-Covenas pipeline, operated by US oil firm Occidental Petroleum (Oxy), was attacked near the town of Saravena, in eastern Colombia, the regional army commander told reporters.

The oil spill has affected the local water source and vegetation, but the attack caused no injuries, he added, saying repair work has begun under military guard.

Saravena, like a number of towns near the border with Venezuela, has a strong presence of the leftist rebel group, the National Liberation Army, or the ELN.

The rebel group, Colombia’s second largest with some 2,500 fighters, claims it aims to prevent the exploitation of the country’s natural resources by foreign companies.

The ELN has expressed interest in holding peace talks with the government, along the lines of the negotiations underway in Havana with FARC, the country’s largest leftist rebel group.

But the government has insisted that any talks would be conditioned on the group releasing hostages and abandoning the practice of kidnapping.

Meanwhile, ELN indicated on Monday that it may be getting ready to free the Canadian engineer it has been holding hostage since January.

The ELN praised the “goodwill” of Canadian company Braeval Mining Corp, where Jernoc Wobert, 47, was employed, for recently abandoning its rights to its mining area in northern Colombia.

“This gesture of goodwill draws closer the release of vice president of exploration and geologist Jernoc Wobert, who was preventively detained by our guerrilla forces,” the ELN said in a statement.

The guerrillas, who last week took note of the Canadian miner’s decision to pull out of the country, did not say when or how they will release Wobert.

“We maintain our decision to find a negotiated decision and we hope the problem can be solved soon so that the Canadian can be returned to his family’s arms,” the ELN said in the statement, published Monday on its website.

Braevel Mining said last week it was giving up mining rights in Colombia because of “unfavourable market conditions, and plans to refocus its efforts on its other projects” but did not mention Wobert.

Wobert was abducted by ELN rebels in January along with two Peruvians and three Colombians also working for Toronto-based Braeval Mining, which has been prospecting for gold and silver in northern Colombia.

The South Americans were released a month later, but the ELN - the smaller of Colombia’s two leftist rebel groups - has held onto the Canadian.

ELN warned Monday that the government had begun a “military deployment” in the department of Bolivar “to search for and rescue the Canadian geologist.”

President Juan Manuel Santos, who has held peace talks with FARC has said he is interested in starting a dialogue with ELN.

ELN has approximately 2,500 members and has also stated on numerous occasions its intention to begin dialogue with the government.