Ecuador to restore diplomatic relations with Colombia

QUITO, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador will restore diplomatic relations with its northern neighbor Colombia next Monday, the day the Organization of American States (OAS) foreign ministers meet, Ecuador's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Diego Stacey said on Tuesday.

This was no simple decision and the relationship would only be gradually normalized, Stacey told reporters.

Ecuador severed diplomatic relations with Colombia on March 3 in response to the March 1 military strike by Colombia on a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia's base inside Ecuador, during which a rebel leader and more than 20 others were killed.

Though Colombia apologized to Ecuador for the incursion at the Rio Group summit on Friday in Santo Domingo, the two countries have not resolved the diplomatic crisis completely.

Ivonne Baki, the president of the Andean Parliament, said that full relations would not be resumed because the two nations' presidents do not fully trust each other.

She proposed creating a committee of regional police and military figures to restrain similar regional conflicts.

Colombia's embassy in Ecuador's capital Quito remains closed, as does Ecuador's embassy in Bogota.

Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the OAS, said on Monday that Colombia's incursion lacked justification, after visiting the attack site in Angostura, a region in the northern Ecuadorian province of Sucumbios.

"We do not plan to intervene in this, we will just support in case of need, but these are bilateral discussions," he said.

The OAS foreign ministers will meet next Monday in Washington D.C., where the OAS is headquartered.