BOGOTA, Sept. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe gave an ultimatum Saturday to paramilitary groups operating in Colombia's central province of Meta, ordering them to demobilize at once, said the State News Service (SNS).

    "The ultimatum has a deadline, and it is not tomorrow or the day after. Either the paramilitaries demobilize at once or they will be militarily defeated," said Uribe, who is currently visiting Meta.

    "We need a Meta province without paramilitaries," said the president after ordering the armed forces to prepare for operations against the illegal armed group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

    Colombia has been plagued by a four-decade civil war, in which leftist rebels, far-right paramilitary and governmental troops fight one another, with an average 3,500 people killed every year.About 2,000 people, including 22 foreigners, were kidnapped in Colombia last year alone. Enditem