Khartoum, Sudan — The Ethiopian military plane that was hijacked on Thursday left Khartoum Saturday with all 50 passengers on board, Kamal Yagoub, Sudan's director of aviation said in Khartoum.

Five hijackers Thursday diverted an Ethiopian military plane to Khartoum airport instead of Addis Ababa as it flew from a military base in Northern Ethiopia.

After reaching Khartoum, the hijackers said they wanted a refuel to continue their journey to a destination they did not specify.

But after lengthy negotiations, representatives of the Red Cross, the UN and the Sudanese ministry of the interior convinced the hijackers to release the passengers and surrender to Sudanese authorities.

They surrendered at 0100 GMT on Friday, releasing the passengers who were military personnel and their families.

The hijackers, who comprise four men and one woman, are cadets from an Ethiopian air force college. They were armed with pistols, hand bombs and knives.

Meanwhile, the minister of information Ghazi Atabani said the hijackers would get a fair trial.

"We have told the hijackers that they will receive a fair trial according to international laws governing plane hijacks," Atabani said in a statement.

"The incident with all its implications will be put before the Sudanese judiciary," he added, denying any secret deal between his government and the hijackers.

"Red Cross and United Nations representatives were called to witness and guarantee the agreement with the hijackers and after long discussions we were able to convince them they will receive fair treatment as stipulated under international laws," he explained.

"In return we asked the hijackers to release the hostages as there was no country in the World that will allow the plane to land on its soil," he said.

Atabani said he believed the plane incident "will not affect" relations between Khartoum and Addis Ababa.

"The Ethiopian government was fully informed of the developments that led to the hijackers' surrender," Atabani added.

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has praised President Omar el Bashir for "the decisive and wise measures taken by the Sudanese government to end the hijack" saga.

"Those wise measures taken by the Sudanese authorities to end this crisis will consolidate the already superb bonds of the two nations," the local press quoted Meles as saying.