POPULATION-ECUADOR: Colombian Refugees Pour Over Border 

By Kintto Lucas 
NUEVA LOJA, Ecuador, Oct 20 (IPS) - An upsurge in fighting between the 
guerrillas, paramilitaries and the army in southwestern Colombia has 
led to the displacement of thousands of people, with around 200 a day 
flowing into this Ecuadorean town, according to the United Nations 
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 

Pedro Alzate, one of the Colombians who has taken refuge in Nueva 
Loja, the capital of the northern Ecuadorean province of Sucumbios, 
told IPS that fighting began to heat up in late September in La Dorada 
and other municipalities of the southwestern Colombian department of 
Putumayo, on the border with Ecuador. 

On Sep 21, at five o'clock in the morning, ''the 'paracos' 
(paramilitaries) came into La Dorada firing their guns and shouting 
that everyone was to gather in the central square, where they told us 
that they had come to eliminate the guerrillas, and that those who 
refused to collaborate would be considered enemies,'' said Alzate. 

The first person killed that day in La Dorada was a young man named 
Omar Piedrahita, who the right-wing paramilitaries grouped in the 
United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) apparently mistook for a 
guerrilla commander, according to Alzate. 

The leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) -- the 
largest rebel group -- recently launched an offensive against the 
paramilitaries in the coca-producing region of Putumayo, which has 
been practically cut off from the rest of the country. 

The Colombian government has set up an air bridge to send in tonnes of 
food aid, while thousands of people have fled their homes in the 
department of Putumayo. 

''Since AUC arrived, more than 30 people have gone missing in the 
area, because they 'disappear' the bodies of the people they kill,'' 
said Joaquin, another displaced person. 

The UNHCR and Ecuador's Foreign Relations Ministry, with the support 
of the Defence Ministry, the police, the National Office of Civil 
Defence, the Red Cross and the Catholic Church of Sucumbios, have set 
up a Contingency Plan for receiving the refugees. 

The stated aim of the plan is to ''address the conditions of 
insecurity, income, reception, shelter, transport, food, 
infrastructure, sanitary conditions, health, education and 
repatriation of Colombian citizens.'' 

But the fighting in southern Colombia got even heavier Thursday, and 
more and more refugees have begun to pour in, while the shelters are 
not even finished. 

Catholic Bishop of Sucumbios, Gonzalo Lopez, said he did not agree 
that refugee camps should be set up, arguing that the Colombians 
fleeing that country's civil war deserved better treatment. 

''We would like existing structures to be used, to give a humanitarian 
touch to this misfortune,'' said Lopez, who proposed using community 
centres for housing the refugees. 

Nueva Loja Mayor Maximo Abad backed the bishop's proposal, stating 
that ''existing shelters in the towns should be adapted and equipped 
with sewerage systems, clean water and other conditions.'' 

Lopez said the Catholic Church would like to see local residents of 
Sucumbios taking part in the work required to address the humanitarian 
crisis, which is expected to worsen in Colombia's border areas when 
Bogota's multi-billion dollar anti-drug and military Plan Colombia 
goes into effect at yearend. 

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) grouped in the Civic Group 
Monitoring the Effects of the Plan Colombia in Ecuador believe the 
implementation of that plan will lead to the displacement of around 
15,000 people, 5,000 of whom are expected to flee across the border 
into Ecuador. 

But UNHCR representatives believe as many as 30,000 people could be 
displaced in southern Colombia in the near future, driving up the 
total number of people displaced by the armed conflict in that country 
since 1985 to close to two million. 

''I really hope we will find the way to receive the refugees as we 
should -- as brothers and sisters,'' said Lopez. 

On a visit to Quito in August, United States Secretary of State 
Madeleine Albright pledged 15 million dollars in aid to Ecuador to 
mitigate the impact of the Plan Colombia on frontier areas. 

Albright said the funds would be distributed through the U.S. Agency 
for International Development (USAID), the UNHCR and the Red Cross. 

The Colombian department of Putumayo, an area of 24,885 square kms, is 
home to 280,000 people. Human rights groups reported 68 extrajudicial 
executions and 39 forced disappearances in the region in 1999. 

Last month, the Ecuadorean government set up a Unit for Development of 
the North, a centralised office in charge of infrastructure projects 
in areas along the Colombian border. 

But municipal authorities in the provinces covered by the programme 
protested the creation of the office, demanding in its place a 
strengthening of local governments. 

They also declared their opposition to Plan Colombia, to which the 
United States has pledged 1.3 billion dollars, as ''running counter to 
international law, and to the good neighbour and non- aggression 
agreements signed by Ecuador and Colombia.'' 

Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Heinz Moeller told 40 delegates of the 
Sucumbios Civil Society Assembly and the UNHCR representative last 
month that ''the social and economic reactivation of the frontier are 
top priorities, in order to prevent the metastasising drug trade from 
spilling over into Ecuador.'' 

Moeller said the government was seeking 30 million dollars, in 
addition to the 15 million already promised by Albright, to be 
invested in Sucumbios. 

However, he stressed that the first step was to beef up the military 
presence in the province. 

Pablo De la Vega, with the Civic Group Monitoring the Effects of the 
Plan Colombia in Ecuador, asked the UNHCR and human rights groups to 
oversee ''compliance with the Ecuadorean state's obligations towards 
the displaced.'' 

''The refugees have the right to be protected against being sent back, 
and to not be denied entry at the border,'' said De la Vega. 

According to the Contingency Plan, ''the refugees are to remain in the 
areas assigned to house them for a maximum of six months, during which 
time long-lasting solutions will be identified.'' 
(END/IPS/tra-so/kl/ff/sw/00)