By THE NEW YORK TIMES

          BRASILIA, Brazil -- In an emotional ceremony that officially ends a bitter conflict that spanned
          generations, the presidents of Peru and Ecuador signed a peace treaty here Monday to open
          their borders and create avenues for trade and development.

          Coming weeks after the two countries had nearly stumbled back into war, the treaty relies on four
          guarantor nations to outline the two nations' borders.

          Blocked in a stalemate over the ill-defined line, the presidents of Ecuador and Peru asked President
          Clinton and President Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil to settle the dispute. In addition to
          Brazil and the United States, the other guarantors are Chile and Argentina.

          "We must continue to free ourselves of our prejudices, to overcome traumas that have been
          generated over more than half a century," President Alberto K. Fujimori of Peru said Monday.

          Under the accord Ecuador gains the use of a square kilometer of Peruvian territory at Tiwinza, atop
          the Condor Mountains, where it will build a monument to its war dead. Though under Peruvian
          sovereignty, the territory will remain under Ecuadorean control.

          Tiwinza was the site of the last Ecuadorean holdout against Peru in 1995, and 12 Ecuadorean
          soldiers are believed to be buried there.

          Ecuador will also gain access to the Amazon River and the right to build two ports in Peru.
          Sweetening the peace were accords on navigation, trade and development that will release $3 billion
          of aid to the region.

          The two countries plan to link electrical grids and have agreed that Ecuador may instead turn to an
          underused Peruvian pipeline.
 
 

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