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DATE=4/7/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=MEXICO BORDER(L-ONLY) NUMBER=2-261067 BYLINE=GREG FLAKUS DATELINE=MEXICO CITY CONTENT= INTRO: Mexico's foreign minister is proposing new mechanisms to avoid accidental confrontations between Mexican and US law enforcement officials along the two nations' nearly two-thousand kilometer-long border. As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Mexico City, there have been at least two potentially tragic clashes in recent weeks. TEXT: Mexican Foreign Minister Rosario Green says Mexico and the United States should work to develop a system of communication to avoid confusion and dangerous incidents between law enforcers at the border. She described an incident earlier this week as a "misunderstanding" that might have been avoided had there been better communication. The incident to which she referred happened Tuesday in a tunnel that connects the cities of Nogales, in the Mexican state of Sonora, with the city of Nogales, Arizona, on the US side of the border. Police from Nogales, Arizona entered the tunnel to prepare for the entry of a city repair crew that was installing new metal grates. When the police entered they were immediately confronted by armed men who turned out to be a Mexican army patrol searching for illegal aliens and drug smugglers. For a few tense seconds both sides stood facing each other with guns drawn. The incident ended without violence once both sides had identified themselves. The Mexican soldiers later admitted to having passed over to the US side of the tunnel by mistake. The Arizona policemen later said the standoff had nearly led to bloodshed and that, in the tight quarters of the dark tunnel, few would have been left alive if a gun battle had occurred. A Mexican army officer downplayed the incident and Mexican consul in Nogales, Roberto Burgos, praised both sides for acting "prudently and professionally." On March 14, there was a confrontation in a desert area near the border in the state of New Mexico between Mexican soldiers and US Border Patrol agents in which shots were fired. The Border Patrol detained several Mexican soldiers who had accidently crossed the border on an anti-narcotics operation. The Border Patrol agents say they came under fire from another group of soldiers who were on the Mexican side, but they did not return fire. The detained soldiers were later released and allowed to return to Mexico. (Signed) NEB/PT 07-Apr-2000 18:31 PM EDT (07-Apr-2000 2231 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .