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BUENOS AIRES, July 29 (UPI) -- A simmering row over who is the arch polluter of them all appeared nearer resolution Thursday as Argentina and Uruguay made peace by agreeing to watch over the river together and spared Brazil the embarrassment of being dragged into the dispute.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Jose "Pepe" Mujica signed agreements that would lead to joint monitoring of the Uruguay River for evidence of pollution.
The accords were a culmination of several years of political bickering and environmental protests, triggered by Uruguay building an eucalyptus-crunching mill by the side of a Uruguay River tributary on the two countries' border.
Argentina prosecuted a long campaign against the pulp mill and its alleged ill effect on the river water, but was finally subdued after a World Court judgment that threw out its argument -- and the personal charisma of former guerrilla fighter Mujica.
Within sights of Argentine government officials was also the lucrative prospect of winning dollars from greater trade with increasingly prosperous Uruguay.
Despite the prevailing good will, however, much now depends on findings of who most pollutes the river -- Uruguay with its pulp waste, Argentina's riverside industries or Brazil's factories further upstream.
Brazil wasn't mentioned in official comments after the accords. Neither is it forgotten, however, because of very substantial industrial activity near the 900-mile-long river's source in Serra do Mar, Brazil.
Controversy over Uruguay River pollution has given rise to fluid political alliances and factions since it began in 2006, when the pulp mill started, and given Argentina's environmentalists a voice and profile they couldn't have achieved otherwise.
Uruguayan Foreign Affairs Minister Luis Almagro and Argentine counterpart Hector Timerman announced the river monitoring will be carried out 12 times a year by a committee composed of scientists from Argentina and Uruguay.
The agreement is expected to eliminate the main motive behind the pickets that blocked the bridge linking the neighbors. The protesters vacated the bridge in June to allow for talks to begin.
It wasn't clear if the pickets would return. One of the activists quoted in the media said he was unhappy with the outcome. Argentina is poised to take the protesters to court if they resume their blockade of the bridge.
Representatives of environmentalist groups told Argentine media they expected the agreement to lead to more rigorous tests than those agreed by the two presidents.
Luis Leysa, lawyer for a group of environmentalists regretted that tests on the air and water wouldn't be done as frequently and with as much scientific thoroughness as proposed by the group.
