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Emergency

declared in

Colombia

BOGOTA: President Ernesto Samper, whose government has been thrown into crisis by charges his election campaign was partly financed by drug traffickers, declared a state of emergency on Wednesday to fight what he described as a growing spiral of violence across Colombia.

The measure, announced by Samper in a nationwide speech, will allow the government to crack down on common criminals, drug lords, leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups who have created a "situation of generalized violence" in Colombia, he said.

Referring specifically to paramilitary groups and guerrillas, the embattled president said the military would beef up its presence in areas suffering from "conditions of political destabilisation."

"It won't be an iron fist or scorched-earth policy but an intelligent one," he added of his plan to combat rebel groups, which he accused of answering his government's "generous peace efforts" with acts of war.-Reuter