FARC guerillas plan to release French journalist, Red Cross says

AFP - Marxist rebels holding French journalist Romeo Langlois hostage for almost a month said Sunday they will free him, a Red Cross official said.

"We have received the statement directly from the group... We are pleased with the announcement of the (planned) release, and we are ready to help organize the operation anywhere and as soon as possible," said Jordi Raich, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Colombia.

Langlois, 35, was accompanying soldiers who destroyed five cocaine production labs in southern Colombia when a firefight broke out April 28 and he was captured by rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

The FARC rebels have called Langlois a "prisoner of war" because he had been wearing a military helmet and flak jacket when he went missing.

Founded in 1964, the FARC is Colombia's oldest and largest guerrilla group, with an estimated 9,000 fighters