December 8, 1999
                  Web posted at: 10:20 PM EST (0320 GMT)

                  CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Colombia's second largest rebel group
                  hopes to start wide-ranging peace talks with the government early next year,
                  a guerrilla leader said on Wednesday.

                  National Liberation Army (ELN) commander Pablo Beltran said he was
                  waiting for word from the government of President Andres Pastrana on
                  whether it would pull its troops out of an area the size of the U.S. state of
                  Delaware to let the talks begin.

                  After three preliminary meetings with the government, Beltran said the rebels
                  expect to hold another one this month to pave the way for a "national
                  convention" on peace between rebels and the government to be held in early
                  2000.

                  "It is very possible that there will be a fourth ELN/government meeting
                  before the end of this year in Colombia in order to receive from the
                  government news about what zone it will concede," he told a small group of
                  foreign journalists.

                  "The government has told us it does want to give a zone and we hope that is
                  so," he added.

                  The ELN has proposed the government pull out of 1,500-1,900 square
                  miles (4,000-5,000 sq kms) in northern Bolivar state.

                  If the government does not accept the idea, Beltran said the peace talks
                  would not happen and the "national convention" would be held outside
                  Colombia, probably in neighbouring Venezuela.

                  Beltran is one of five ruling commanders of the rebel army, which has been
                  fighting a bloody battle against the Colombian government for 35 years and
                  claims to command 8,000 troops.

                  The ELN pursues a Marxist agenda inspired by Argentine revolutionary Che
                  Guevara and specialises in economic sabotage, in particular of oil
                  installations, and kidnapping.

                  The Colombian government pulled its troops out of an area the size of
                  Switzerland last year to kick-start peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed
                  Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's biggest rebel force. Since then,
                  they have held intermittent peace negotiations, but no ceasefire has been
                  agreed.

                  Beltran held out the possibility of a ceasefire by the ELN if the government
                  agreed to increase public sector wages next year or freeze gasoline prices.

                  "The ceasefire is not just about arms, it is also about things that make life for
                  Colombians difficult," he said.

                  He implied that a recent spate of mass kidnappings, such as a plane hijack in
                  April when the ELN snatched 41 people, would be suspended if talks with
                  the government got under way.

                  The last round of preliminary talks with the government broke down in
                  February this year.

                  "While there are negotiations, some types of actions are postponed, frozen,
                  suspended," Beltran said.

                  The national convention the ELN plans for next year would last nine months
                  and address five main points of discussion: human rights, economic policy
                  and drug trafficking, political participation, natural resources and the armed
                  forces.

                  Beltran hoped the FARC and ELN talks with the government would
                  become one process in the medium term.

                     Copyright 1999 Reuters.