Colombia, Ecuador Restore Ties Under Jimmy Carter Deal

[magbana]

Colombia, Ecuador restore ties under Carter deal
Fri Jun 6, 2008 1:20pm EDT

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ATLANTA (Reuters) - Colombia and Ecuador have agreed to renew low-level diplomatic relations under a deal brokered by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, the Atlanta-based Carter Center said on Friday.

The relations will be restored at the level of charges d'affaires, according to the center. Ecuador severed ties with Colombia following a cross-border raid by Colombia's army against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrillas in March.

Colombia accused neighboring Ecuador of harboring Colombian rebels, a charge Ecuador has denied.

Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, has worked with the U.N. Development Program to support a dialogue group composed of citizens from both countries to improve relations, a Carter Center statement said.

"Carter also consulted each president about the possibility of renewing diplomatic relations between the two countries immediately and without preconditions," the statement said.

"Today (Friday), both presidents confirmed their willingness to do so immediately through their respective foreign ministries," it said.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe issued a statement on Friday saying he was ready to re-establish diplomatic relations with Ecuador immediately. There was no immediate comment from Ecuador's government.

(Additional reporting by Hugh Bronstein in Bogota)

(Writing by Matthew Bigg; editing by Jim Loney and Stacey Joyce)


http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN0628014920080606

[Judi Lynn]

1. AP version: Colombia, Ecuador to restore diplomatic relations

Colombia, Ecuador to restore diplomatic relations
By FRANK BAJAK – 4 hours ago

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia and Ecuador are restoring diplomatic ties at the charge d'affaires level following mediation by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Colombia's presidential spokesman said Friday.

Government officials in the Ecuadorean capital of Quito did not immediately confirm the announcement but promised an official statement shortly.

Ecuador pulled its ambassador in anger after a cross-border Colombian military raid March 1 on a leftist rebel camp in which a senior Colombian guerrilla and 24 other people were killed.

President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia "ratifies the verbal promise" he gave Carter and re-affirmed his readiness to restore full ties, spokesman Cesar Mauricio Velasquez said in a statement he read to the news media.

The curt announcement followed a statement issued by the Carter Center in Atlanta that said Uribe and President Rafael Correa of Ecuador had "confirmed their willingness" to restore ties "immediately and without preconditions."

More:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iCugtGPcxruL1KQ2vbcemQoVyCZwD914NEB00

[JohnnyCougar]

2. Thank god for Carter.

Colombia "defenders" don't seem to mind Colombia being used as a tool for division and for advancing an ultra-right-wing US foreign policy agenda. It would NOT benefit Colombia if the US neocons were allowed to make it into the Israel of South America -- and load it up with weapons and isolate it from what could potentially be regional allies.