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Ecuador to defend itself if no Colombia apology

BRASILIA
Tue Mar 4, 2008 10:18pm EST

BRASILIA (Reuters) - President Rafael Correa said on Tuesday that Ecuador would defend itself if Colombia did not apologize for an attack on rebels in its country and if the international community did not condemn it.

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"The aggressor has to apologize and the international community condemn him. If not we will have to defend ourselves with our own means," Correa told journalists in the capital Brasilia.

"Ecuador is ready to do what it takes. Our sovereignty is not negotiable," Correa said.

Ecuador wanted guarantees that Colombia would not repeat an attack on Ecuadorean soil. It also wanted an acknowledgment that Colombia had fabricated allegations that Ecuador supported the leftist rebel group FARC, Correa said.

Correa said Ecuador was not looking for war and would continue to pursue diplomatic means to solve the standoff.

The Ecuadorean president is on his second stop on a five-nation tour of the region -- including a stop in Venezuela -- to lobby for support after Colombia struck a FARC camp in Ecuador on Saturday.

(Reporting by Raymond Colitt; Editing by Bill Trott)
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