Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador end talk of war

Published on Saturday 8 March 2008 18:39

SOUTH America moved away from talk of war as the presidents of Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador agreed to end a bitter dispute triggered by a Colombian cross-border raid with testy handshakes and an apology.

After intense regional diplomacy and an emotional debate laced with accusations and furious speeches, Latin American leaders approved a declaration resolving to work for a peaceful end to the crisis, in which Venezuela and Ecuador sent troops to their borders and Colombia accused its neighbours of backing leftist rebels aiming to topple its government.

The leaders at the summit in the Dominican Republic wasted little time in reversing their steps toward conflict.

Colombia pledged not to follow through on its threat to seek genocide charges against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at an international court for allegedly supporting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which finances its insurgency through kidnapping and the cocaine trade.

Nicaragua said it would restore diplomatic relations with Colombia, broken off only the day before. Chavez said trade with Colombia should "keep increasing", two days after saying he didn't want even "a grain of rice" from his neighbour. "We're going to begin to de-escalate," Chavez said. "Hopefully this compromise will be honoured so this never happens again."

The statement approved by the presidents notes that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe apologised for the March 1 raid inside Ecuadorian territory that killed 25 people including a senior rebel commander, and that he pledged not to violate another nation's sovereignty again.

But it also commits all the countries to fight threats to national stability from "irregular or criminal groups", a reference to Colombia's accusation that its two neighbours have ties to Colombian rebels.