Ecuador Repulses Attacks By Peruvians On Border Claims Success In Four Jungle Raids From Peru Saturday

Peruvian forces renewed attacks Saturday against Ecuadorean border outposts, and at least 23 troops on both sides have been killed in three days of clashes, the military said.

Ecuador’s Armed Forces Joint Command also said Peruvian warplanes entered Ecuadorean air space in the south but were forced back by Ecuadorean air force planes.

In Lima, Peru, spokesmen at the presidential palace and the foreign ministry had no information on reports of new fighting.

But Peruvian troops in northern Peru were placed on alert, tanks were moved toward the border and Peru’s president, Alberto Fujimori, flew over troop positions. Peruvian television broadcast scenes late Friday of troops in trucks headed toward the border from the northern city of Tumbes.

In Shell-Mera, about 120 miles north of the disputed area and 95 miles south of Quito, Col. Pablo Viteri said 20 Peruvian soldiers and three Ecuadoreans have been killed in clashes, which first flared on Thursday.

The joint command said two Peruvians were wounded in one of Saturday’s four clashes, and mentioned an unspecified number of other wounded in the other three.

Peru and Ecuador fought a war in 1941 over their 1,000-mile border, and animosity is still strong. In dispute is a 50-mile length of jungle-covered mountains, the Cordillera del Condor, where bloody clashes took place in 1981.

Ecuador contends it lost almost half of its territory with the signing of the 1942 Protocol of Rio de Janeiro after the 1941 war. Ecuador later declared void the territorial limits set by the protocol.

Many Peruvians view the conflict as an annual attempt by Ecuador to stress its claim to the disputed area. Jan. 29 is the anniversary of the signing of the Rio Protocol.

Although local media in Quito asked citizens to show support by flying the Ecuadorean flag from windows and balconies, few were visible.

Although Fujimori faces a presidential election in early April, Peruvian opposition candidates have not overly politicized the issue, though some called for a “strong response” by the government.

The head of the Organization of American States, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia, met with the presidents of both countries on Saturday but had no immediate comment on his meetings.

Hundreds of youths trekked to military barracks throughout Ecuador after radio stations repeatedly broadcast government appeals for young men born between 1972 and 1975 to report for duty.

“To fight for the fatherland, let’s go to the border to win,” conscripts chanted aboard army buses.

President Sixto Duran-Ballen said Ecuador’s military forces would stay in their positions, but again offered a cease-fire.

The Ecuadorean joint command said Peruvian forces repeatedly attacked four Ecuadorean outposts in the disputed area Saturday.

“Our soldiers, in a heroic manner, have turned away these continued attacks by the Peruvian forces,” the military communique added.

One attack occurred in the Cueva de los Tayos area, near the head of the Cenepa River, it said. The area is about 220 miles south of Quito.

Addressing a rally at the presidential palace, Duran-Ballen said the latest attacks occurred early Saturday at the Cenepa River, which Peru claims is entirely in Peruvian territory. He said Ecuadorean troops repulsed the attacks.

“We are not moving backwards, and we are prepared to accept a cease-fire as long as it does not mean giving up our positions,” DuranBallen said.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Galo Leoro had said his Peruvian counterpart, Efrain Goldenberg, rejected a proposal for a cease-fire during a telephone conversation Friday night.

Fujimori met with military commanders in the northern cities of Piura and Tumbes, and flew over troop positions along the border.