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OAS SECRETARY GENERAL WILL IMPLEMENT A MECHANISM TO
RESTORE CONFIDENCE BETWEEN ECUADOR AND COLOMBIA

The hemisphere’s Foreign Affairs Ministers concluded their 25th Meeting of Consultation at the Organization of American States in Washington early Tuesday morning with a resolution instructing the organization’s Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, to use his good offices to implement a mechanism to restore a climate of confidence between Ecuador and Colombia.

In the resolution, the decision was taken that the 25th Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs—which began Monday morning—would be kept open and that its next session would be held during the upcoming regular OAS General Assembly, scheduled for early June in Medellin, Colombia, “in order to receive a report by the Secretary General on the implementation of this resolution.”

Secretary General Insulza welcomed the resolution and pledged to do his utmost to fully restore normal relations between the two South American nations. He said “good will” had facilitated the satisfactory conclusion of the agreement to embark on a process of restoring confidence in the wake of the March 1st events that took place on the Ecuador-Colombia border.

According to Insulza, "the resolution’s great value lies in how it reaffirms such fundamental principles as respect for territorial sovereignty and for international law, the only instrument countries have at their disposal to defend themselves. Our organization has in its hands the rule that should prevail in our hemisphere if we are to respect one another and live in peace. The resolution adopted by consensus at the Foreign Ministers’ meeting has established this.”

The Secretary General added that the resolution from the Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs “has a pro-active component underscored in operative paragraph 7, with reference to the creation of a mechanism for observation, which, as concerns the incident, is one way of ensuring follow-up of the decisions taken at the meeting, and that generates confidence in both countries that were involved in the crisis we have resolved tonight.”

Insulza went on to state that “The OAS is the main depository for inter-American laws. When declarations of resolutions are issued by other forums, reference is often made to our Charter or to some Convention of ours as the juridical foundation. In a situation such as this, the importance of the OAS is highlighted as a function of its ability to apply and defend the rules we have established so we can coexist.”

Foreign Affairs Minister of the Dominican Republic Carlos Morales Troncoso chaired the 25th Meeting of Consultation, which concluded after nearly 15 straight hours of intensive discussions on the Ecuador-Colombia situation. Minister Morales Troncoso said that with the understanding that emerged, the hemisphere and the Organization “have once again demonstrated the utmost commitment to our ideals and our principles.”

Troncoso declared: “I think we have just cause, which we sense from your applauses, to be proud of what we have accomplished in the interest of our hemisphere. A spirit of compromise and consensus have been the hallmark of the work undertaken by this Meeting of Consultation. Allow me to publicly thank the citizens and governments of the sister republics of Ecuador and Colombia.”

Convocation for the Meeting of Consultation was issued on March 5 during a lengthy meeting of the OAS Permanent Council which, among other things, called for a Commission, headed by the Secretary General, to draft a report on the events of March 1st.

Operative paragraph 8 of the resolution expresses appreciation for work undertaken by the Commission that visited the scene of the incidents, noting in particular the efforts of the Secretary General; Permanent Council Chairman Ambassador Cornelius A. Smith of the Bahamas; and Ambassadors Rodolfo Gil, of Argentina; Osmar Chohfi, of Brazil; Aristides Royo, of Panama; and María Zavala, of Peru. The group of diplomats visited Ecuador and Colombia March 8 through 12 to verify the facts of the March 1st incidents.

In their resolution, the Foreign Ministers furthermore decided to “reject the incursion by Colombian military forces and police personnel into the territory of Ecuador, in the Province of Sucumbíos, on March 1, 2008, carried out without the knowledge or prior consent of the Government of Ecuador, since it was a clear violation of Articles 19 and 21 of the OAS Charter.”

Taking note of Colombia’s “full apology” for the events that occurred as well as the country’s pledge that they would not be repeated under any circumstances, the resolution reiterates the firm commitment of all member states “to combat threats to security caused by the actions of irregular groups or criminal organizations, especially those associated with drug trafficking.”


Resolution of the Twenty Fifth Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the OAS

Reference: E-086/08