Colombian President Alvaro Uribe will hold talks with his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, on Monday after inviting France, Spain and Switzerland to resume their mediation role in an effort to free 44 hostages held by Marxist rebels, his office said.

Uribe announced on Saturday he had authorized France, Spain and Switzerland to return to their mediation efforts before a European tour starting in Paris where he will address the hostage issue with Sarkozy, who has closely followed the case of French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt.

"We had suspended the mediation of the delegates of Switzerland, Spain and France a few months ago," Uribe said in remarks at the central town of Vistahermosa. "Two nights ago (Wednesday) we reactivated it."

Uribe spoke on the eve of his trip to France, Brussels, Spain and Switzerland to explain his government's policy regarding the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which the European Union and Washington consider a terrorist group.

Uribe said the European trio should support a mediation effort being led by Colombia's influential Roman Catholic church.

After France, Uribe is to head to Brussels to meet EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Tuesday and proceed to Spain, where he will meet King Juan Carlos and Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. On Thursday, Uribe is scheduled to visit Davos for the annual international economic summit.

The FARC want to swap 44 of its most high-profile hostages, including Betancourt and three Americans, for 500 rebels held in Colombian prisons.

But the two sides have failed to agree on terms to negotiate on exchange. The leftist rebels want Uribe to create a demilitarized zone, a demand that the conservative president has vehemently rejected.

Uribe reiterated his proposal Saturday to negotiate the swap in a "meeting zone," which he described as a rural area with no population "where there are no police or military to remove."

France, Spain and Switzerland angered Uribe in June when they issued a statement asking Colombia's government to seek a deal with the FARC and recommending that a commission be created to investigate the death of 11 lawmakers held by the rebels.

"We will not accept such disrespect for our democracy as putting the government at the same level as the terrorists of the FARC," Uribe said at the time.

The Colombian government charges that the rebels, who began their insurgency more than 40 years ago, are involved in cocaine trafficking and hold more than 700 people hostage.