The rapid improvement in relations between the two arch-enemies comes at a critical time for US, other interests in the Horn of Africa.
NAIROBI, Kenya—Ethiopian leader Abiy Ahmed arrived Sunday in neighboring—and archenemy—Eritrea in an unprecedented milestone that could signal a new geopolitical era in this strategic corner of the world.
Ethiopia is a top Western and Chinese ally in the conflict-prone Horn of Africa, which lies on the Red Sea on one of the world’s biggest shipping routes. Eritrea hosts a major United Arab Emirates military base, and is home to a 1,150 kilometer coastline on the strategic waterway that leads up to the Suez Canal.
Mr. Ahmed’s visit comes soon after a senior Eritrean delegation visited Addis Ababa last month to start peace talks between the David-and-Goliath neighbors, and is the first by an Ethiopian leader in recent history.
Mr. Ahmed was greeted in Asmara, one of the world’s most reclusive capitals, by longtime Eritrean rebel-turned-dictator Isaias Afwerki. Mr. Afwerki, 72 years old, became president of Eritrea at independence in 1993. The two men embraced at Asmara airport as Eritrean women danced to welcome Mr. Ahmed, Ethiopian state TV reported.
“From The Airport to the State House in #Asmara’s streets, the Ethiopian delegation was greeted & received with overwhelming joy & love by the kind people of Eritrea. The yearning for peace was palpable & we’ll decidedly move forward for the good of our people,” tweeted Fitsum Arega, the Ethiopian prime minister’s chief of staff, alongside photos of jubilant Eritreans.
He later tweeted the first concrete step in rapprochement, re-establishing phone lines between the two nations, had been decided.
“The Summit is expected to set the tone for rapid, positive changes on the basis of respect of sovereignty & territorial integrity, equality and mutual interest of both countries,” tweeted Yemane Gebre Meskel, Eritrea’s information minister.
The 41-year-old Mr. Ahmed, just over three months into leading Africa’s second-most-populous country and one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, announced he wanted to resolve a border dispute with Eritrea that’s led to a permanent state of hostility between the two nations.
A 2002 decision by a United Nations-backed commission found that Ethiopia had to withdraw from the border area, called Badme, ruling the territory rightfully belonged to Eritrea, but Ethiopia has never done so.
Resolving the Badme dispute would be a first important step in a long road to reconciliation, made bumpier by nationalists on both sides and mistrust after decades of fighting.
Since their falling out, the two neighbors have diverged dramatically in politics and economy.
Ethiopia—an aspiring manufacturing powerhouse—is a rapidly growing nation and home to more than 100 million people. It has forged close ties with the U.S. in the war on terror, the European Union in migration, and China in trade and infrastructure development. While it maintains a major military presence in neighboring warzones on behalf of the international community, Ethiopia nonetheless struggles with ethnic divisions and poverty.
Eritrea, meanwhile, population around 4.5 million, has grown more isolated in the past two decades, and is accused by the U.N. and others for gross human-rights violations that have driven one of modern history’s biggest migration waves. The country is also under U.N. sanctions for allegedly fostering Somali terrorists.
The rapid rapprochement announced by Mr. Ahmed in early June comes at an important time for the military and commercial development of the Red Sea coastline.
Ethiopia, landlocked since losing Eritrea, is investing heavily in neighboring nation’s ports to ensure it will be able to export its manufactured goods.
Middle Eastern powers are pouring billions in ports and naval bases along the Red Sea coastline in Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti and Eritrea, vying for perches on the same coastline to establish commercial and military presence.
And the U.S., which maintains a 4,000 troop base in Djibouti—just next to Eritrea—is concerned about the crowding of that tiny state that also hosts Chinese and other bases in proximity to its own. In early May, the U.S. complained that Chinese military personnel were targeting American flight crews over Djibouti.
Peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea is a prerequisite for the U.S. to re-engage with Eritrea, two Western diplomats have said. The U.S. and Eritrea have had very poor relations for the past two decades but in late April, before Ethiopia announced it wanted peace and days before the Pentagon announced its concerns about the Chinese in Djibouti, Donald Yamamoto, then U.S. acting assistant secretary of State for African Affairs, became the first senior U.S. officials in years to visit Asmara. Mr. Yamamoto discussed the prospects of improving relations with Asmara during his visit, diplomats said.
Once Foes, Leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea Meet for Peace Talks
By Selam Gebrekidan
It was a moment few had anticipated.
For the first time since a border war in the 1990s opened a rift between Ethiopia and Eritrea, leaders of the two nations embraced on an airport tarmac on Sunday, hinting at a new era of geopolitics in the Horn of Africa.
Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, led his country’s first state visit to Eritrea since the war broke out in 1998. He was greeted in Eritrea’s capital, Asmara, by President Isaias Afewerki, who has held power since his country gained independence from Ethiopia.
Hours later, the two leaders sat for a meeting that they said would “set a tone for rapid positive changes.” Sunday afternoon, direct telephone lines were restored between the two countries for the first time in two decades.
“History in the making: the pictures say it all,” said Eritrea’s minister of information, Yemane Gebre Meskel, in a post on Twitter.
Fitsum Arega@fitsumaregaa
Mr. Abiy, 41, surprised his nation last month when he announced that Ethiopia would “fully accept and implement” a 2000 peace deal that was supposed to end the border conflict with Eritrea.
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More than 80,000 people have died in the war, according to some estimates, and the Ethiopian prime minister was among the thousands who had fought on the front lines.
In a speech to a delegation of Eritrean diplomats visiting Ethiopia last month, Mr. Abiy promised stronger diplomatic and social ties between the two countries. The neighbors will celebrate the Ethiopian New Year together in September, he said, and his nation’s airline will resume flights to Eritrea.
“This is my message to Ethiopians: Love looks better on you,” Mr. Abiy said. “Love is the only way with our Eritrean brothers.”
His overtures, and his state visit, were welcomed by residents of Asmara on Sunday. They took to the streets waving palm fronds and the flags of the two nations. Videos posted on social media showed Eritrean women signing for peace along the city’s main boulevards.
“This is no ordinary visit. This is no ordinary diplomatic relationship. It is an emotional day,” said Mesfin Negash, an Ethiopian human rights analyst in Sweden. “The peace process now belongs to the people. Both leaders cannot deny the public pressure anymore.”
Political analysts expect negotiations to include the inauguration of embassies in both capitals and the resumption of trade between the two countries. Much work is needed to demarcate the border between the two nations and to arrive at an equitable deal that would allow Ethiopia to have access to a key Eritrean port, they said.
“I had argued that the port should be given back to Ethiopia, but now I think we can have a solution that benefits both countries,” said Yacob Hailemariam, a lawyer in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.
“Both countries will, of course, pursue their self interest, but this is a promising start,” he said.
The state visit on Sunday is the latest among the changes that the Ethiopian prime minister have begun in a series of surprise announcements since April.
His government has released prominent political prisoners and given amnesty to those charged with treason and other political crimes. The second-most-populous country in Africa, Ethiopia is also planning to sell parts of its state-owned enterprises, including the national airline, a move that its ruling party had opposed for decades.
Yet, a peace deal with Eritrea may well be among the defining moments of Mr. Abiy’s leadership of the country.
The “no war, no peace” stalemate between the two countries, coupled with a government crackdown on dissent, has contributed to Eritrea’s economic and social isolation in recent decades. Its young and able-bodied citizens had fled the country, choosing treacherous routes along the Sahara over military service at home.
At the height of Europe’s migration crisis, Eritreans were among the largest group landing on Mediterranean shores. The United Nations estimates that nearly 170,000 Eritrean refugees live in Ethiopia.
Source – The New York Times