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The war with Peru starts with disputes as far backs as 1840. Most the dispute revolved around Ecuador's claimed territory in the Amazon Basin. Starting in 1822, Ecuador was a member of the Gran Colombia confederation, of which the disputed lands were a part of. Peru also fought against the Gran Colombia as a whole over the lands (6). Several treaties were signed, over the years, in hopes of ending the conflict. However, either one country or the either would somehow agrue over the validity of the treaty or pull away from the treaty in response to some injustice (6). The Latin American Association for Human Rights (ALDHU) reported that both factions laid between 130,000 to 150,000 land mines. Ecuador has since reported five mine-affected areas from the border dispute, including the Cordillera del Condor, and the El Oro and Loja provinces. Ecuador has stated that it has not used land mines since the war with Peru in 1995. However, the ALDHU told the United Nations in 1996 that mine laying was continuing along the disputed border, and that 10,000 mines had been laid since the 1995 ceasefire (7). The whole topic is heavily debated, with each country having their own version of how the war played out. In the end, after several more attempts put forth to end the fighting, a treaty was finally signed October 26, 1998 (6). Ecuador’s army has developed a plan with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to clear all mines by 2008, primarily through the work of the 23rd Cenepa Engineer Brigade, a company made up of six 15-man demining teams (7). Return to Ecuador's History Return to Home Page