Ecuador-Peru-Fighting
1-29-1995
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
MACAS, Ecuador (AP) _ Two Peruvian helicopters were reportedly shot down Sunday, killing seven people, as Ecuadorean officials accused Peru of mounting a "massive offensive" along a long-disputed border.
An Ecuadorean Joint Chiefs of Staff statement reporting the first helicopter downing said one Ecuadorean was also killed and another wounded Sunday in a fourth day of border clashes.
Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Alberto Molina said two Peruvians were captured when the second helicopter was downed.
There were conflicting reports of casualties. Ecuadorean field commanders said 20 Peruvian and three Ecuadorean soldiers were killed Saturday.
Peruvian officials did not comment on the fighting Sunday, nor have they given any casualty figures. But Lima's Channel 4 television reported Sunday evening that 30 Ecuadorean and six Peruvian soldiers had been killed, and that six Peruvians were wounded and three missing.
The fighting centered on a disputed 50-mile unmarked stretch of the 1,000-mile border, the Cordillera del Condor _ a dense jungle area with gold, uranium and possibly oil reserves, as well as a river that could provide Ecuador with access to the Amazon River. The area was the site of bloody clashes in 1981.
Sunday was the 53rd anniversary of the signing of the Rio Protocol that ended a 1941 war between Ecuador and Peru over the entire border. Ecuador contends it lost almost half its territory with the signing of the protocol, and it later declared the territorial limits set by the agreement to be void.
Peru and Ecuador each contend that the present skirmishes are taking place on its own territory, and therefore in defense of its own sovereignty.
The Ecuadorean military command in Quito said Peruvian forces attacked bases at Soldado Monge, Teniente Hugo Ortiz, Coangos and Cueva de los Tayos with planes, helicopters and mortars on Sunday morning.
The Ecuadorean army and air force were "fighting to repel the attack," the statement said. Molina said Sunday evening that Ecuadorean army fliers had bombed a base at Pachacutec, "which is in our territory."
Peruvian radio reported that a squadron of air force Mirage jets had taken off from the northern city of Piura in the direction of the conflict and that other pilots were strapped into their planes, awaiting flying orders. Piura is 530 miles northwest of Lima and 50 miles from the border.
Troops moved toward the border in civilian trucks belonging to local fishermen, the radio said.
In Quito on Sunday, Ecuadorean President Sixto Duran-Ballen addressed a crowd from the palace balcony. He said all sectors of the country, including the political opposition, were prepared to "firmly maintain our position."
Bitter political rivals stood shoulder-to-shoulder behind the president during the address.
"We are not going to retreat," he vowed, adding that the border bases under attack "are on Ecuadorean soil."
Peruvian officials, however, maintained that the area in question is clearly within Peru, according to the map agreed upon in 1942.
"It makes us angry and pains us that these skirmishes, which have taken place in Peruvian territory with the presence of Ecuadorean patrols, have happened between brother countries," said Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori on Saturday.
He said Peru "firmly maintains its position to defend the boundary line," but added that "We are making efforts, both governments, I understand, to keep this from escalating."
The mood in Peru was comparatively calm. Television was offering its standard Sunday fare of sports, music and cartoons, although Radioprogramas' national broadcast interspersed coverage of a minor league soccer match with reports of the conflict.
Gen. Jorge Ortega, Ecuador's army commander, went to the disputed area Sunday. He described heavy fighting by air and on land.
In Macas, a town of several hundred about 90 miles from the zone of fighting, Ortega greeted fighter pilots flying air patrols along the border in A-37 jet fighters.
Civilians clustered in the street listened to radio reports of the fighting as fighter planes streamed overhead. The town's small airport was turned into a military way-station, through which several dozen soldiers carrying automatic rifles clomped in their combat boots.
Ortega said Ecuadoreans were holding onto the attacked border posts, including the one at Teniente Hugo Ortiz where anti-aircraft fire shot down the Peruvian helicopter. Officials said seven Peruvian soldiers were killed.
An Ecuadorean colonel in Shell-Mera, an army supply area about 125 miles from the fighting, said Saturday that at least 23 troops on both sides had been killed in the first three days of fighting. But a general in the town of Macas, 50 miles from the fighting, said Sunday that he did not know what the source of those figures had been.
Gen. Jose Grijalva, commander of Ecuadorean troops in the battle zone, said Peruvian forces were using Chinook and Huey helicopters, which the United States had given Peru to combat drug traffickers, to transport troops to the front lines.
The U.S. Embassy in Lima issued a statement Sunday night calling the charge "totally false." It said that the UH-1H helicoptrs, piloted by members of the Peruvian National Police, were U.S. property and were authorized by Congress solely for use fighing drug trafficking.
"These are not being used in any area near the border between Peru and Ecuador," the statement said.
Ecuadorean military kept reporters away from the area of the clashes, saying they feared for the reporters' safety.
In Washington, Ecuador's Ambassador to the United States Edgar Teran said he had asked the United States and the international community to help end the fighting.
The State Department had no official statement on the fighting Sunday.
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
MACAS, Ecuador (AP) _ Two Peruvian helicopters were reportedly shot down Sunday, killing seven people, as Ecuadorean officials accused Peru of mounting a "massive offensive" along a long-disputed border.
An Ecuadorean Joint Chiefs of Staff statement reporting the first helicopter downing said one Ecuadorean was also killed and another wounded Sunday in a fourth day of border clashes.
Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Alberto Molina said two Peruvians were captured when the second helicopter was downed.
There were conflicting reports of casualties. Ecuadorean field commanders said 20 Peruvian and three Ecuadorean soldiers were killed Saturday.
Peruvian officials did not comment on the fighting Sunday, nor have they given any casualty figures. But Lima's Channel 4 television reported Sunday evening that 30 Ecuadorean and six Peruvian soldiers had been killed, and that six Peruvians were wounded and three missing.
The fighting centered on a disputed 50-mile unmarked stretch of the 1,000-mile border, the Cordillera del Condor _ a dense jungle area with gold, uranium and possibly oil reserves, as well as a river that could provide Ecuador with access to the Amazon River. The area was the site of bloody clashes in 1981.
Sunday was the 53rd anniversary of the signing of the Rio Protocol that ended a 1941 war between Ecuador and Peru over the entire border. Ecuador contends it lost almost half its territory with the signing of the protocol, and it later declared the territorial limits set by the agreement to be void.
Peru and Ecuador each contend that the present skirmishes are taking place on its own territory, and therefore in defense of its own sovereignty.
The Ecuadorean military command in Quito said Peruvian forces attacked bases at Soldado Monge, Teniente Hugo Ortiz, Coangos and Cueva de los Tayos with planes, helicopters and mortars on Sunday morning.
The Ecuadorean army and air force were "fighting to repel the attack," the statement said. Molina said Sunday evening that Ecuadorean army fliers had bombed a base at Pachacutec, "which is in our territory."
Peruvian radio reported that a squadron of air force Mirage jets had taken off from the northern city of Piura in the direction of the conflict and that other pilots were strapped into their planes, awaiting flying orders. Piura is 530 miles northwest of Lima and 50 miles from the border.
Troops moved toward the border in civilian trucks belonging to local fishermen, the radio said.
In Quito on Sunday, Ecuadorean President Sixto Duran-Ballen addressed a crowd from the palace balcony. He said all sectors of the country, including the political opposition, were prepared to "firmly maintain our position."
Bitter political rivals stood shoulder-to-shoulder behind the president during the address.
"We are not going to retreat," he vowed, adding that the border bases under attack "are on Ecuadorean soil."
Peruvian officials, however, maintained that the area in question is clearly within Peru, according to the map agreed upon in 1942.
"It makes us angry and pains us that these skirmishes, which have taken place in Peruvian territory with the presence of Ecuadorean patrols, have happened between brother countries," said Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori on Saturday.
He said Peru "firmly maintains its position to defend the boundary line," but added that "We are making efforts, both governments, I understand, to keep this from escalating."
The mood in Peru was comparatively calm. Television was offering its standard Sunday fare of sports, music and cartoons, although Radioprogramas' national broadcast interspersed coverage of a minor league soccer match with reports of the conflict.
Gen. Jorge Ortega, Ecuador's army commander, went to the disputed area Sunday. He described heavy fighting by air and on land.
In Macas, a town of several hundred about 90 miles from the zone of fighting, Ortega greeted fighter pilots flying air patrols along the border in A-37 jet fighters.
Civilians clustered in the street listened to radio reports of the fighting as fighter planes streamed overhead. The town's small airport was turned into a military way-station, through which several dozen soldiers carrying automatic rifles clomped in their combat boots.
Ortega said Ecuadoreans were holding onto the attacked border posts, including the one at Teniente Hugo Ortiz where anti-aircraft fire shot down the Peruvian helicopter. Officials said seven Peruvian soldiers were killed.
An Ecuadorean colonel in Shell-Mera, an army supply area about 125 miles from the fighting, said Saturday that at least 23 troops on both sides had been killed in the first three days of fighting. But a general in the town of Macas, 50 miles from the fighting, said Sunday that he did not know what the source of those figures had been.
Gen. Jose Grijalva, commander of Ecuadorean troops in the battle zone, said Peruvian forces were using Chinook and Huey helicopters, which the United States had given Peru to combat drug traffickers, to transport troops to the front lines.
The U.S. Embassy in Lima issued a statement Sunday night calling the charge "totally false." It said that the UH-1H helicoptrs, piloted by members of the Peruvian National Police, were U.S. property and were authorized by Congress solely for use fighing drug trafficking.
"These are not being used in any area near the border between Peru and Ecuador," the statement said.
Ecuadorean military kept reporters away from the area of the clashes, saying they feared for the reporters' safety.
In Washington, Ecuador's Ambassador to the United States Edgar Teran said he had asked the United States and the international community to help end the fighting.
The State Department had no official statement on the fighting Sunday.
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