Operation Safe Border

The Army is assisting in the peaceful settlement of the border dispute between Peru and Ecuador by providing support personnel, helicopters and US observers to Operation Safe Border. In early 1995 Peru and Ecuador engaged in sustained combat in a remote area where their common border has never been fully demarcated. Dozens were killed, hundreds wounded, and escalation to cities was feared. As Guarantors of the 1942 Rio Protocol of Peace, Friendship and Boundaries which ended the 1941 Ecuador-Peru war and defined the border, the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Chile worked for a comprehensive settlement.

Ecuador and Peru agreed on February 17, 1995, to stop fighting and seek a peaceful solution to remaining issues between them. By October 1995 Guarantor military observers (MOMEP) organized the withdrawal of some 5,000 troops from the Cenepa valley and supervised demobilization of 140,000 troops on both sides. The combat zone was demilitarized and Ecuador and Peru began to contribute officers to the observer mission.