Colombian presidential candidate reported missing

A candidate in Colombia's presidential elections has been reported missing after she failed to arrive at a former rebel-controlled town occupied by the army.

Ingrid Betancourt, a former senator, left the city of Florencia at 1pm on Saturday in a car for the town of San Vicente del Caguan four hours away but had not arrived by late at night.

Ms Betancourt was accompanied by campaign staffer Clara Rojas, a French photographer and a Colombian cameraman.

Colombia's government says it warned Ms Betancourt not to make the trip because it was too dangerous and officials turned down her requests for ground and air transport to San Vicente.

Two other presidential candidates, Noemi Sanin and Horacio Serpa, heeded the military's warning and postponed visits to San Vicente, the government said.

Ms Betancourt was last seen at 3pm at an army checkpoint on the road, where a commander urged her party not to continue.

She told reporters she was determined to reach San Vicente to stage a rally for "respect for human rights".

San Vicente Mayor Nestor Leon Ramirez said he hoped Ms Betancourt had stopped for the night in one of several tiny villages along the highway. "We're worried about her fate," he said.

San Vicente is the former capital of an area of southern Colombia controlled by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) until this week.

President Andres Pastrana had ceded the zone in 1998 in hopes of brokering an end to Colombia's 38-year war but after Farc attacks on military and civilian targets, he ordered the military to reoccupy the area.