Islands in the Stream

During a simple ceremony in a small Renaissance palace set in the gardens behind St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Agostino Cardinal Casaroli, the Vatican Secretary of State, presided as representatives of Argentina and Chile signed copies of a document marking the end of almost six years of mediation and decades of mutual hostility. The dispute involved the Beagle Channel, which lies at the southern tip of South America. The settlement clarifies each country's territorial and water rights in the waterway and recognizes Chilean sovereignty over three main channel islands, as well as seven smaller ones.

Argentina and Chile have been feuding over the channel since 1902. When the Vatican first intervened in 1978, the two neighbors were on the brink of war following the collapse of efforts to mediate the dispute by the U.N. Security Council and the Organization of American States. Argentina will hold a referendum on the Vatican settlement Nov. 25, but the result is not binding on the Argentine Congress, which, along with its rubber-stamp Chilean counterpart, is nonetheless expected to ratify the agreement.