France has asked Colombia for permission to meet leftist rebels in order to seek the release of dual French-Colombian national Ingrid Betancourt, who was taken hostage while running for Colombia's presidency in 2002, a French emissary said on Thursday.

The request from French President Jacques Chirac came a week after Colombia protested to France over unauthorized talks between French representatives and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

"We want to continue acting, in coordination with the Colombian government," said French emissary Nicole Guedy in Bogota.

Betancourt, 43, was taken hostage by the FARC after ignoring military warnings and taking her campaign for a small left-wing party to a dangerous part of southern Colombia in February 2002.

She is now one of 63 hostages the FARC want to swap for guerrillas held in government jails. Other prisoners include politicians, soldiers, police officers and three Americans -- civilian U.S. Defense Department contractors captured when their light plane crashed on a mission to find drug crops in 2003.

So far a deal looks far off, although the Colombian government has in the past few months made high profile offers of talks to the FARC. Issues blocking negotiations include the government refusal to withdraw troops from two towns for 60 days during talks and the rebels' rejection of a demand that freed comrades never return to fighting.

Colombia's guerrilla war, which also involves illegal far-right paramilitaries, has lasted more than four decades and thousands of people are killed in fighting every year. The FARC has about 17,000 members, according to military intelligence, and funds itself with kidnapping for ransom and the cocaine trade.