Ethiopia denies normalization with Sudan

The Ethiopian government on Wednesday denied any closeness or inclination towards normalizing relations with Sudan.

Relations between the two countries have been nearly frozen since June 1995 when Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak was exposed to a failed assassination attempt in Addis Ababa, which then accused Khartoum of being behind the attempt and of giving shelter to three terrorists who were involved in the operation.

In a press conference he held on Wednesday before leaving Addis Ababa for Nigeria and Ghana on official visits, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin denied what had been rumored by certain Sudanese mass media and diplomatic sources on a nearby restoration of normal relations between Sudan and Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian minister added this information is "groundless." He stressed his country's "commitment to its principled stands in calling on the Sudanese government to hand over the terrorists who are accused of trying to assassinate the Egyptian president directly to Ethiopia or though the Organization of African Unity ."

He reiterated that the three accused men "are in the protection of the Sudanese government." The Ethiopian minister stressed that he will take part in the regional conference for African refugees which will start on Sunday in Khartoum, but he stated that his visit to Sudan is not for "restoring relations to what had been before 1995," adding that his expected meeting with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismael or any other Sudanese officials would not mean "anything in the course of changing our stand."