French Foreign Legion soldier escapes Colombia guerrillas

Jose Olger Melo Charry, a Colombian soldier in the French Foreign Legion, escaped guerrilla captors in Colombia after a four-day walk through rebel-held territory, a Colombian army official said Monday.

Melo Charry, a corporal in his early thirties, was taken hostage on August 6 while travelling on a highway in southwest Colombia during leave. He was abducted in Narino department by a dissident faction of the now-defunct FARC guerrilla group.

The army official said Melo Charry escaped on Thursday and walked for four days before presenting himself to police in the Andean town of Policarpa. He was then transferred to a hospital in Pasto, the capital of Narino, where he was said to be doing well.

The official said Melo Charry was undergoing medical tests and receiving psychological support, and had been placed under security-force protection because of fears for his safety and for relatives in the region. The official said his military training and membership of the French Foreign Legion helped keep him alive.

France's Defense Ministry said Melo Charry joined the French army four years ago and had no authorization to travel to Colombia.

The Central General Staff, or EMC, the largest dissident FARC faction that rejected Colombia's 2016 peace deal, had claimed responsibility for the abduction. It did not demand a ransom but warned Colombian President Abelardo De la Espriella against any rescue attempt.

The French Foreign Legion is an elite unit of the French Army made up mainly of volunteers from many nationalities who serve in international military operations.