A commission has been set up to negotiate with the Marxist rebel group the release of all the hostages in return for setting up a peace process.

Demands for peace talks have been at the core of the rebels' latest high-profile acts of terrorism, carried out by land, sea and air.

The rebels want to make a deal with President Pastrana

President Andres Pastrana broke off all contact with the ELN after 12 April, when five of its guerrillas - one disguised as a priest - hijacked a domestic flight and kidnapped the passengers and crew.

When 30 ELN attackers snatched 143 worshippers, including the priest, from a church in the south of the country, President Pastrana said that Colombia would not bow to terrorism.

But the president backed down following the latest event, when rebels in speed boats intercepted a party from a prestigious fishing club near Baranquilla, on the Caribbean coast, and kidnapped 11 anglers.

A massive search operation involving 3,000 troops backed by helicopter gunships is still combing the jungle in search of the rebels and their remaining victims.

Safe havens

The ELN, believed to be Colombia's second-largest rebel organisation, wants the Colombian Government to grant them equal status with other rebel groups in the current peace talks.

The group has also been making diplomatic efforts to display its desire for peace.

FARC rebels are already involved in peace talks

ELN's leader, Nicolas Ridriguez Bautista - alias Gabino - has visited the Vatican, while his second in command, Antonio Garcia, has been in Germany to ask for mediation help from the German Government.

The rebel movement wants "safe havens" similar to the 42,000-sq-km demilitarised zone enjoyed by the country's largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The government has so far refused to grant another demilitarised zone, as the army is bitterly opposed to indefinite safe havens for guerrilla groups.