Brazilian president Lula calls Chavez "a great peacemaker"

RIO DE JANEIRO

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Thursday hailed the role played by his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez in the Colombia-Ecuador crisis, saying he was "the great peacemaker."

"Who was the great peacemaker in the conflict between Colombia and Ecuador? It was clearly President Chavez," Lula told a news conference in the northern Brazilian city of Recife, on the second day of a visit by Chavez.

Chavez helped prevent what seemed to be the beginning of a serious conflict in the region on March 1, when Colombian troops attacked in Ecuadorian territory a camp of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest rebel group, he said.

The attack killed 25 FARC members, including the group's No.2 Raul Reyes.

Ecuador broke off diplomatic ties with Colombia after the attack, calling the raid a violation of its territorial sovereignty.

The conflict briefly aroused fears of war in the Andean region as Ecuador and Venezuela ordered troops to their borders with Colombia.

On March 7, Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia agreed to declare the border crisis over at the 20th Rio Group Summit in the Dominican Republic after Chavez announced reconciliation with Colombia.

"The pacifying discourse of Chavez allowed that meeting to become a productive meeting," Lula said.