Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said Tuesday that the International Criminal Court should charge Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for supporting Colombia's main rebel group.

The comments came as the Organization of American States scheduled an emergency meeting in Washington to address the growing crisis sparked by Colombia's cross-border strike on a guerrilla base in Ecuador.

Uribe claims documents were found during that raid on the laptop of a slain commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that indicate Chavez's government recently gave $300 million to the group.

U.S. President George W. Bush criticized Chavez's government on Tuesday for its "provocative manoeuvres" and said he told Uribe by phone that Washington will stand by Colombia.

The United States and the European Union classify the rebel group, also known as FARC, as an international terrorist organization.

"Colombia is proposing that the International Criminal Court charge Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, for the support and financing of genocide," Uribe told journalists.

His comments came after a meeting with an ex-congressman recently freed by FARC after six years as a hostage. Venezuela said Colombia is lying about the documents.

Colombia's president did not state what arguments would be presented against Chavez in the Netherlands-based court.

The documents were found on the laptop of Raul Reyes, a senior FARC leader killed Saturday in the raid on the guerrilla camp just inside Ecuador. The government says the documents show Chavez's links to the group dated back more than a decade.

Tuesday's remarks came a day after Ecuador and Venezuela ordered troops to the Colombian border, expelled the country's diplomats and largely halted trade at key points along the frontier in response to the killing of Reyes.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said on Monday that Colombia's attack scuttled talks between his government and the guerrillas to free 12 rebel-held hostages, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. defence contractors.

Colombian officials have long complained that FARC rebels take refuge in Ecuador and Venezuela, and accused both countries of supporting the rebels financially and politically. But Venezuela and Ecuador have dismissed Colombia's allegations as lies.

The rebels, who have been fighting for more than four decades for a more equitable distribution of wealth in Colombia, fund themselves largely through the cocaine trade, while holding hundreds of kidnapped hostages for ransom and political ends.

Washington has supported Colombia's right to defend itself against FARC.

With files from the Associated Press