Colombian president appoints new FM

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Monday appointed Fernando Araujo Perdomo, who was held by rebels for six years, to replace Maria Consuelo Araujo as the nation's new foreign minister.

The appointment came several hours after Maria Araujo resigned following her brother, Senator Alvaro Araujo, was arrested together with four other lawmakers last week. He was accused of financing the Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) and possible involvement in the kidnapping of a political rival. Her father Alvaro Araujo Noguera was also under investigation for possible links with the right-wing militia AUC.

The new minister, 51, not a relative to his predecessor, escaped from the guerrilla camp six weeks ago after being held as a hostage for six years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the country's top militia.

"I have designated Fernando Araujo Perdomo as foreign minister, " Uribe said in a statement released by his office, calling the new minister "a reflective citizen who has suffered the nation's tragedy."

The new foreign minister, who used to serve as the country's development minister, told the RCN radio that Uribe had offered him the job on Sunday night by telephone.

"I asked him to allow me to think about it at least for one night, (and) I discussed it with my family and they gave me their support, and early this morning I called him to accept (the appointment)," said Fernando Araujo.

The minister who resigned was the first senior official to fall in the widening scandal that links lawmakers with the AUC. Eight pro-Uribe lawmakers have been jailed since the scandal broke in November last year, one is on the run and an active army leader has been suspended.

The AUC has its origins in vigilante groups set up by cattle ranchers and drug traffickers to combat left-wing guerrillas. It has engaged itself in a peace process with the government, and some 31,000 AUC fighters have been demobilized.

Colombia has been locked in a four-decade long civil war, the longest in Latin America, in which government forces, leftist guerrillas and far-right paramilitaries are fighting one another. The conflicts kill more than 3,000 people every year.

Source: Xinhua