Ethiopia, Norway agree to restore severed ties

By Tesfa-alem Tekle

October 2, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopia and Norway on Wednesday agreed to restore their strained ties to normal status after foreign ministers of both nations held normalization meeting last week in New York, Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said.

The Diplomatic ties of both countries has been at odds after Addis Ababa expelled six Norwegian diplomats in August last year saying that they had interfered in Ethiopia’s internal affairs.

“The two ministers reviewed the report of the joint technical committee established with a mandate to look into all aspects of the problems and misunderstandings that led to the regrettable turn of events in the relations between Ethiopia and Norway,” said the ministry in a statement.

The ministers expressed satisfaction with the work of the technical committee, which has been dealing with both sides to restore strained relations, it said.

“The decision taken by the government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in connection with the diplomatic representation of the Kingdom of Norway in Addis Ababa has been rescinded.”

The ministry expressed belief that cooperation between the two countries will continue to deepen in all areas, the statement said.

After Norway backed for the next round of border talks with Eritrea, Addis Ababa Ethiopia reacted fiercely against the support. However, Ethiopia was insisting it had not severed diplomatic relations with Norway but was unhappy with its dealings with Eritrea in particular.

In 1993 Eritrea declared its independence from Ethiopia but fears of a possible new war remains swelled.

With forces of both neighbors staring at each other in a near distance a single bullet fired from any side could trigger a full scale war any minute.

A 1998-2000 border war between the two poorest nations has cost about 70,000 lives.

(ST)