Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe (R) and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega talk after they agreed to resolve a territorial dispute at the 20th Group of Rio Summit in Santo Domingo March 7, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    SANTO DOMINGO, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of the four Andean nations, whose relations were bruised by Colombia's cross-border raid on rebels, broke off their diplomatic tensions on Friday with handshakes at a regional summit here.

    Colombian President Alvaro Uribe apologized for his country's cross-border attack on rebels to Ecuadorian counterpart Rafeal Correa, who accepted Uribe's apology and shook hands with Uribe.

    Later on, Uribe shook hands with his Venezuelan and Nicaraguan counterparts Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega.

    But Uribe denied Correa's charge that Colombia violated Ecuador's territory, saying Colombia had informed Ecuador of the attack.

Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe (L) and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (R) talk, as Dominican President Leonel Fernandez looks on after they agreed to resolve the crisis set off by an attack on a FARC guerrilla camp inside Ecuadorian territory by the Colombian armed forces last week at the 20th Group of Rio Summit in Santo Domingo, March 7, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Uribe said the Colombian army bombed a jungle camp of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest rebel group, inside Ecuador from Colombia's aerial territory.

    FARC's No. 2 leader Edgar Devia, better known by his alias Raul Reyes, and 22 other FARC guerrillas, were killed in the attack on March 1.

    Ecuador severed diplomatic ties with Colombia earlier this week following Bogota's raid and reinforced military deployment along its border with Colombia.

    Venezuela, Colombia's northern neighbor, also condemned the attack and sent troops to its border with Colombia.

    The Organization of American States criticized Colombia but stopped short of a formal condemnation.

    The tensions took center stage at the Rio Group summit in the capital of the Dominican Republic, which concluded on Friday, while the issues foreseen for the meeting -- energy, natural disasters and development -- were dropped.

An image on a screen in the press room shows Dominican President Leonel Fernandez (C) standing between Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe (L) and Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, after they agreed to resolve the crisis set off by an attack on a FARC guerrilla camp inside Ecuadorian territory by the Colombian armed forces last week, at the 20th Group of Rio Summit in Santo Domingo March 7, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    In the six-hour session, Dominican President Leonel Fernandez told Uribe that many heads of state at the summit agreed to condemn Colombia's military operation, but all offered to help. Fernandez openly invited Chavez, Correa and Uribe to shake hands to end the conflict.

    Chavez said on Friday that his country would normalize its diplomatic relations with Colombia very soon.

    Chavez, who would soon return home from the summit, said he would hold a cabinet meeting on Friday night to normalize his country's relations with Colombia.

    The president also expressed his hope that Venezuela's trade with Colombia will increase after bilateral ties are normalized and their border is reopened.

    And despite the tensions, the Ecuadorian army said on Thursday it would continue to fight Colombian rebel groups operating in Ecuador.

    The army would not allow foreign rebel groups to enter the country and would continue to crack down on Colombian rebels operating in Ecuador, a senior officer said.

    The army has destroyed 117 FARC camps and hideouts, captured 14FARC members and seized a large amount of arms and ammunition since 2004, the officer said.

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