Ecuador said on Monday it was open t talks with Britain over fate of the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange.

Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said: "We prefer to continue working on talks with Great Britain.”
"Heading to the International Court of Justice in The Hague would be the path to take after that,” Patino said on Ecuadoran TV network Gama.

Ecuadorian embassy in London

Since the ICJ could take years to reach a decision, "we prefer that this issue is resolved before some years go by," he added.

Ecuador granted last week asylum to Assange, who is holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in order to avoid extradition to Sweden where he faces questioning over alleged sex crimes.

A diplomatic row erupted as Ecuador granted asylum to the Australian national on Thursday, with Britain has refused to grant him safe passage out of the country.

Assange, 41, says Sweden plans to hand him over to the United States, where he fears prosecution over WikiLeaks's release of a vast cache of embassy cables as well as secret files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Britain angered Ecuador by suggesting it could invoke the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act of 1987, which it says allows it to revoke the diplomatic immunity of the embassy and go in to arrest Assange.

Before talks can start, "we expect ... that they officially tell us that the threat is no longer in effect, because it's currently in effect," Patino said.