Nicaragua restores diplomatic relations with Colombia -- china.org.cn

Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos met with Colombian Ambassador Antonio Gonzalez Wednesday, asking him to hand over a letter to Colombian Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo in which Nicaragua announces the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Colombia.

Santos said the restoration of diplomatic relations was ordered by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, after an agreement was reached with Colombia during the 20th Rio Group Summit in the Dominican Republic on March 7.

During the summit, Ortega agreed with his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe to reestablish diplomatic relations suspended by Nicaragua on March 6.

Santos said that Tuesday he received a telephone call from Colombian Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo, and the two ministers discussed the issue of restoring diplomatic relations.

"The Nicaraguan government's decision is very pleasing for us," said Gonzalez.

Nicaragua broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia following the same move by Ecuador and Venezuela, triggered by the border conflict between Colombia and Ecuador.

The conflict emerged after Colombia's military incursion on March 1 into Ecuadorian territory to attack a base of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), killing 25 people, including FARC's international spokesman Edgar Devia, alias Raul Reyes.

During the summit the dispute was resolved after Uribe apologized to Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and promised no similar raids would happen again if his neighbors cooperated in the fight against FARC.

In the letter, Santos also asked the Colombian navy to retreat from the disputed waters of the Caribbean Sea, and expressed the wish to strike at maritime drug-trafficking routes with Colombia.

Nicaragua has a long-standing maritime boundary dispute with Colombia. Last December, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that three disputed Caribbean islands belong to Colombia, but left open the chance that Nicaragua might win the rights to other islands and part of the Caribbean Sea.

(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2008)