Controversial Colombian oil exploration approved

A court in Colombia has given the go ahead for a controversial oil-drilling project on disputed land close to an indigenous reserve in the northeast of the country.

The decision, by the superior court in Bogota, overturns an earlier ruling which halted the exploration work -- by the United States company, Oxy -- on the grounds that it violated the rights of the U'wa indigenous tribe.

The Indians claim the area as their ancestral territory and object to the drilling on religious and environmental grounds.

Indian activists say they will continue their campaign against the project. Several years ago the group threatened to commit mass suicide if the project went ahead.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service