By Serge F. Kovaleski
                  Washington Post Foreign Service
                  Sunday, January 16, 2000; Page A29

                  PANAMA CITY, Jan. 15—Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright met
                  briefly today with President Mireya Moscoso, a month after President
                  Clinton and Albright miffed Panamanian officials by declining invitations to
                  a ceremony to mark the U.S. handover of the Panama Canal.

                  U.S. officials said that during Albright's five-hour visit she and Moscoso
                  were expected to talk about a number of canal issues, including the future
                  security of the waterway. The United States transferred the canal, along
                  with the rest of the 360,240-acre Canal Zone, to Panamanian jurisdiction
                  on Dec. 31 in accordance with 1977 treaties.

                  Panama's army was disbanded following a U.S. invasion in 1989. In the
                  United States, some opponents of the handover have voiced concerns that
                  with the near century-long U.S. military presence over, the canal is now
                  vulnerable to powerful Marxist rebels in neighboring Colombia. Some say
                  China may seek to control it through Hong Kong-based Hutchison
                  Whampoa Ltd., which operates cargo terminals at both ends of the canal.

                  Another topic that Moscoso was expected to raise with Albright was the
                  unexploded munitions from U.S. weapons testing and training that litter
                  thousands of acres on three former practice ranges.

                  While the U.S. military insists that it cleared as much undetonated
                  ordnance as was "practicable," the Moscoso government says the cleanup
                  was inadequate and is trying to get the Clinton administration to complete
                  the job.

                  Albright's visit to Panama is part of a three-day trip that took her to
                  Colombia on Friday and early today. She held discussions there with
                  President Andres Pastrana on a two-year, $1.3 billion anti-drug aid
                  package proposed by the Clinton administration. She flew to Mexico
                  tonight.

                  [In some of the worst fighting in six months, clashes between leftist rebels
                  and Colombian security forces near Bogota killed 50 people yesterday, as
                  Albright visited northern Colombia. It was not clear if the rebel attack was
                  meant as a show of force to coincide with Albright's visit.]

                  Albright was greeted on her arrival in Panama by Foreign Minister Jose
                  Miguel Aleman and given the same tour of the canal's Miraflores Locks
                  that visiting dignitaries received during the Dec. 14 canal handover
                  ceremony, which was held before Dec. 31 to avoid millennium scheduling
                  conflicts.

                  Before a state dinner tonight, Albright told the gathering that the
                  relationship between the United States and Panama has entered a new era
                  of "great promise." She said, "Last month's canal transfer reflects a process
                  of growth in both our countries through which discredited patterns of
                  paternalism and resentment have been supplanted by partnership and
                  resolve."

                  U.S. officials said Albright's trip was not intended to make amends for her
                  absence and Clinton's at the Dec. 14 ceremonies. Although the U.S.
                  delegation was headed by former president Jimmy Carter, who negotiated
                  the canal agreements, Panamanian officials felt slighted. Albright has said
                  she stayed in Washington for Middle East peace talks.

                  Some here accused the Clinton administration of trying to distance itself
                  from the canal transfer, which faced pockets of opposition, at a time when
                  Vice President Gore has been waging a presidential bid. "Since she did not
                  come for political reasons, she is coming now to repair the damage,"
                  former foreign minister Jorge Ritter said.

                  "I think this is an attempt to smooth ruffled feathers. Albright will try to
                  show that the U.S. still loves them, but Panama will have to get used to the
                  fact that it occupies a lower level of priority than before because our
                  exposure is now minimal in Panama," said Mark Falcoff, a Latin America
                  specialist at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank.
 

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