IRA-FARC links would alarm America

The US would consider any links between the IRA and guerrillas in Colombia troubling, the state department has said.

Colombian officials arrested three IRA members in Bogota last weekend and said they were training rebels in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

‘‘We would be concerned if it were established that that the Provisional Irish Republican Army were assisting, sharing information or in any way collaborating with a violent terrorist organisation such as the FARC,’’ state department spokesman Philip Reeker said

He said the FARC was trying to undermine the Colombian Government and was a major contributor to the flow of illegal narcotics into the US.

Mr Reeker noted the IRA has maintained a ceasefire in Northern Ireland for four years and stressed its commitment to a peaceful, democratic resolution of the province’s problems.

‘‘We have welcomed that commitment. Any relationship, however, with the FARC or with any other terrorist organisation would certainly raise troubling questions,’’ he said.

He sidestepped a question on how the arrests might affect the US’s relationship with Sinn Fein.

‘‘We’ll be closely monitoring any information with regard to the activities and affiliations of those three men who have been arrested in Colombia,’’ he said.

Colombian officials said the three men were caught Saturday after spending five weeks inside the FARC-held demilitarised zone training rebels in the use of explosives.

In return, officials said the FARC could be providing the IRA with anything from drugs to money to black market arms - their first such alliance.

Officials said tests on the clothing of the three turned up traces of four different kinds of explosives, as well as cocaine and amphetamines.

FARC rebels are involved in cocaine production in Colombia, which earns them millions of dollars in profits.