From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Oct 02 2008 - 08:27:51 EDT
Ethiopia restores diplomatic ties with Norway Thu 2 Oct 2008, 5:41 GMT
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia said on Wednesday it had restored
diplomatic ties with Norway, a year after it expelled six Norwegian
diplomats accusing Oslo of undermining its national security and spreading
instability in the region.
A government statement said that the foreign ministers of the two countries
met during the U.N. General Assembly in New York and agreed to restore
relations to their previous status.
"Accordingly, the decision taken by the government of the Federal Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia last year in connection with the diplomatic
representation of the Kingdom of Norway in Addis Ababa has been rescinded,"
the statement said.
Ethiopia's foreign minister lat year accused Norway of financing soldiers in
neighbouring Eritrea and "terror" groups in Somalia and Sudan, a Norwegian
newspaper said.
Norwegian media then reported that Oslo's efforts to help cool tensions
between Ethiopia and Eritrea -- which fought a 1998-2000 border war that
killed 70,000 people -- appeared to be the cause of Ethiopia's expulsion of
the diplomats.
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