Cenepa war

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The Cenepa War was a military conflict between Ecuador and Peru . The war took place in 1995 and lasted about three weeks. The point of contention was the border between Peru and Ecuador in an area near the Río Cenepa . There were around 500 dead in this war.

Starting position

Both countries had already waged a military conflict ( Peruvian-Ecuadorian War ) in 1941/42 , which was ended by the Rio de Janeiro Protocol . Before the outbreak of the Cenepa War, both countries emphasized the "friendship between the brother peoples", as Peru's President Alberto Fujimori put it. In addition, both countries were members of the Andean Pact and were thus closely connected diplomatically.

Location in Peru

Alberto Fujimori, President of Peru

Peru was ruled by Alberto Fujimori in 1995. The president was respected in the population because he was reputed to have ended years of guerrilla wars. The negative sides of Fujimori's tenure only became apparent after he left office in 2000. Before 1995, Fujimori made three visits to Ecuador's capital, Quito . There he was celebrated by the population and emphasized the friendly relationship between his country and the smaller neighboring state of Ecuador. In Peru there were no discussions about the border with Ecuador, as the Rio de Janeiro protocol was unconditionally accepted. In 1995 there were elections in Peru. This fact led to speculation that Fujimori instigated the war as an electoral measure, but this is considered unlikely.

Location in Ecuador

Sixto Durán Ballén ruled Ecuador . Due to a bad economic situation and a corruption scandal, his government was in a difficult situation and very unpopular with the people. Even Durán's then 80 years of age did not make government work any easier. The government therefore needed a sense of political achievement, which was sought in the confrontation with the neighboring state of Peru. Ecuador renounced the Rio de Janeiro Protocol as early as 1960. The war against Peru was accompanied by a patriotic propaganda campaign to win back the popular favor for Sixto Durán Ballén.

Point of contention

The disputed area

The borderline between the rivers Río Zamora , Río Santiago and Río Cenepa was disputed. The border between Río Zamora and Santiago was resolved amicably through an arbitration ruling by the Brazilian Braz Dias de Aguia , but the Rio Cenepa issue remained. Ecuador claimed the Río Cenepa, which eventually flows into the Amazon , for itself in order to facilitate navigation. Peru was firmly convinced of the legitimacy of its own claim based on the Rio de Janeiro Protocol. However, this has not been respected by Ecuador since 1960. As a result, both countries irrevocably claimed the region for themselves. This led to diplomatic conflict as both nations sent armed patrols into the area. This resulted in exchanges of fire as early as the early 1990s. The conflict reached its preliminary climax in 1991 with the dispute over the Peruvian military post in Pachacutec in the disputed zone. A military conflict could still be prevented by an agreement at this point in time. As a result, there were many skirmishes and minor crises, but at a moderate level. In December 1994, both sides significantly increased their military presence in the Cenepa Valley. This armament was probably also driven by the political hardship of Sixto Durán Ballén. After several shootings and captures, the war between Peru and Ecuador officially broke out on January 24, 1995.

course

Peru mobilized its troops on January 24th and 25th. Ecuador was busy mobilizing its fighter jets. On January 26, Ecuadorian troops attacked Peruvian military service workers while they were building a helipad . The Peruvians were driven from what the Ecuadorians call Base Norte. Mobilization was carried out on both sides and the entire border was occupied. A total of 140,000 soldiers were mobilized. On January 28, started the Peruvian armed forces a major offensive into the headwaters of the Río Cenepas, but were repulsed by Ecuadorian FAE hunters. On January 29, Peru continued attacks against the Ecuadorian cities of Tiwinza, Cueva de los Tayos , Base-Sur and Coangos, but suffered losses. After a 24-hour truce and the rejection of another truce proposed by the UN , the Peruvian military continued the attacks with artillery support . The Ecuadorian Air Force attacked the Peruvian forces and tried to weaken the Peruvian positions with attacks from the air. From 9th to 12th February the Peruvian Air Force (FAP) intensified the bombing of Ecuadorian positions. On February 13, the Peruvian Armed Forces began a concentrated offensive on Tiwinza, with tremendous support from the FAP. In the evening, President Fujimori stepped in front of the cameras and announced the victory of Peru and the capture of Tiwinza, which Ecuador denied. On February 17th, the foreign ministers of Peru and Ecuador and representatives of the arbitrators Argentina, Chile, Brazil and the USA met and formulated a declaration of peace and the creation of the MOMEP peacekeeping force, which arrived on February 21st in the still hotly contested war zone. On February 22nd, which the Ecuadorians call "Black Wednesday", the entire Peruvian armed forces began a major attack on the Cenepa Valley. On that day most of the soldiers of Ecuador died in the whole war, but because of the great casualties, the Peruvian offensive was unsuccessful. On February 28, after many confusing skirmishes at Cenepa, the Montevideo Declaration came into effect, officially ending the war.

Result

After the peace treaty, conflicts continued in the combat area. Both sides declared themselves the winners, but there is no clear winner. The Ecuadorian government was unable to stabilize itself as hoped through the war. On August 10, 1996, the government of Sixto Durán Ballén ended. The three-week war had killed a total of 500 people.

literature

  • Andreas Bloom (Red.): War on the Río Cenepa. Press documentation on the border war between Ecuador and Peru (= working papers of the Research Center for Wars, Armaments and Development, No. 89). University of Hamburg, Hamburg 1995.
  • César Briones: Un cielo, un reto, un ideal y una victoria. Crónica de las operaciones areas efectuadas por el Grupo Aéreo Amazonas durante la guerra del Alto Cenepa - Macas 1995 . Quito 2000 (written from an Ecuadorian perspective).
  • Gabriel Marcella, Richard Downes (eds.): Security cooperation in the Western hemisphere. Resolving the Ecuador-Peru conflict . North-South Center Press, Miami 1999. ISBN 1-57454-064-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ That's right: freely chosen war . In: The time . June 22, 2006, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed April 4, 2017]).
  2. ↑ 2005: a strategic date for the South American continent, country reports, publications, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung . In: Konrad Adenauer Foundation . ( kas.de [accessed April 4, 2017]).
  3. ^ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg, Germany: JUDGMENT: Alberto Fujimori - DER SPIEGEL 16/2009. Retrieved April 4, 2017 .
  4. ^ The Associated Press: Sixto Durán Ballén, Ecuador President in Border Clash With Peru, Dies at 95 . In: The New York Times . November 18, 2016, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed April 4, 2017]).
  5. ↑ Cenepa War; Background; Overview; New crisis; Mobilization for war; First encounters. Retrieved April 4, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Río Cenepa, Peru - Geographical Names, map, geographic coordinates. Retrieved April 4, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Cenepa War; Background; Overview; New crisis; Mobilization for war; First encounters. Retrieved April 4, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Thomas Roithner: War on the sidelines: "Forgotten wars" between shadow and light, or, the duel at dawn for economy, media and politics . LIT Verlag Münster, 2011, ISBN 978-3-643-50199-8 ( google.de [accessed on April 4, 2017]).