Eritrea, Norway discuss Sudanese issues

Sunday 2 April 2006

April 1, 2006 (MASSAWA) — Sudanese issues were on the agenda of talks between the Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Raymond Johansen, on 31 March.

Raymond Johansen

According to the Eritrean Ministry of Information’s Shabait website, the two sides discussed the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) as well as the Darfur and East Sudan issues.

Norway has been a close observer of the Sudan peace process, as part of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development Partnership Forum, which also includes Britain, Italy and the United States.

In April 2005, Norway hosted a donor conference for the reconstruction of Sudan after the signing of the CPA reached to end 20 years of war there.

Afwerki and Johansen also discussed ways of enhancing bilateral relations taking into consideration the historical relations between Eritrea and Norway.

Johansen assured president Isaias that Norway considers the EEBC ruling as final and binding, and as such it advocates the speedy implementation of the decision, Shbait stated..

Eritrean President pointed out that there is no concrete evidence yet that Ethiopia accepts the Commission’s ruling.

(ST)