Colombia's peace process is reeling under the continuing rebel offensive - which the army is powerless to stop.

Now, the government has admitted that it was aware that rebels have used a 42,000 square kilometre "safe haven" - granted to them by President Andres Pastrana as a precondition for attending peace talks - to prepare for further war.

Government soldiers cry at yet another funeral

Defence Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez said he knew the rebels were using the huge demilitarised zone - the size of Switzerland - to train fighters and as a launch-pad for attacks on the security forces.

The minister was speaking in an interview with the respected Bogota daily, El Tiempo.

Eight months after forcing the reluctant army to evacuate the zone, the President has nothing to show for his sweeping concessions.

The zone has become a Marxist mini-state within Colombia, where guerrillas prepare unmolested for military action and hold kidnap victims for ransom.

They also export drugs, using the proceeds to equip still further an already formidable guerrilla army of some 20,000 fighters.

Praying for peace at a Bogota rally on Saturday

The previous Defence Minister, Rodrigo Lloreda, resigned in May after a government proposal to grant the guerrillas safe haven indefinitely.

Seventeen of Colombia's 30 generals and hundreds of other officers resigned as well - but while the President said goodbye to the minister, he refused to accept the army resignations.

In a survey published last week, over 75% of Colombians said President Pastrana was "mishandling the peace process" and had given away too many concessions for nothing in return.