Eritrean Foreign Minister Ali Sayyid Abdallah is in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, the highest-ranking Eritrean official to arrive in Ethiopia since the two countries ended their border war in 2000.
According to Eritrean radio, the minister is attending an Organisation of African Unity (OAU) ministerial meeting from 13 to 15 March. The visit comes ahead of a crucial border ruling to be announced next month by an international Boundary Commission in The Hague.
Eritrea's deputy ambassador to Kenya, Teweldemedhin Tesfamariam, said he knew nothing about any meetings with Ethiopian officials. "As far as we are concerned, the minister is in Ethiopia for the OAU meeting," he told IRIN on Wednesday.
"The position of the Eritrean government is clear," he added. "We want a normalisation of relations with Ethiopia once the border issue has been settled. Our president has been unequivocal about that."
Ethiopia and Eritrea went to war over a border dispute in May 1998. A peace agreement was finally signed in Algiers in December 2000 and the Boundary Commission will issue a "final and binding" verdict on where the border lies on 13 April.
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