Uribe, who took office on Wednesday, also decreed an emergency tax to allow the government to raise US$778.5 million to fund a military build-up.

"The government has decided tonight to declare the state of emergency," Interior and Justice Minister Fernando Londono told reporters during a news conference in Bogota.

Londono did not give specifics about what the state of emergency would entail but the decree stated it would not include any suspension of constitutional guarantees. The decree is valid for 90 days and can be extended for another 90 days.

The crisis measures, effective immediately, were announced early yesterday (local time) after a day-long cabinet meeting called to discuss an escalation of violence that has left 100 dead since Uribe took office.

Defence Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez said the emergency tax was designed to create two new elite mobile battalions, totaling up to 3,000 soldiers, and 10,000 new police officers.

Colombia is gripped by a 38-year-old war pitting left-wing rebels against outlawed right-wing paramilitary fighters and the military. The war claims the lives of thousands of people every year.

Uribe -- a 50-year-old, right-wing former regional governor -- won a landslide election in May on pledges to boost military spending to restore law and order in Colombia.

Finance Minister Roberto Junguito said the emergency tax will levy a 1.2 percent tax on the estates of the well-off and of big businesses.

The state of emergency, which is permitted under Colombia's 1991 constitution, allows Uribe to legislate by decree, sidestepping congress. Former presidents also decreed states of emergency to deal with violence and drug trafficking.

(China Daily August 13, 2002)