RIO DE JANEIRO: Colombia will shortly reestablish ties with Venezuela amid a long row over alleged harboring of rebels that sparked concerns of a wider conflict, a Brazilian presidential spokesman said Monday.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos told his Brazilian counterpart by phone that the two nations would make the announcement "in the coming hours," a spokesman said.

Venezuela broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia on July 22, one week after Santos`s predecessor, Alvaro Uribe, accused it of harboring some 1,500 leftist rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia`s second-largest guerrilla force.

BDST: 0943 HRS, August 10, 2010