Ethiopia receives first Eritrean delegation to Ethiopia in 20 years

[Deeq A.]

Addis Ababa– Ethiopia on Tuesday received a high-level Eritrean delegation for the first time since the two countries fought a bloody two-year border war from 1998-2000.

The Eritrean delegation headed by Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Salah was greeted at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport by Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed and Ethiopian Foreign Minister Workineh Gebeyehu.

The Eritrean delegation came to Ethiopia a week after Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki declared that his country would send a team to Ethiopia to assess a recent Ethiopia peace offer.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bloody two-year border war that killed an estimated 70,000 people from both sides before signing a peace accord, dubbed the Algiers agreement, in December 12, 2000.

On June 5, the Executive Committee of the ruling party, the Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) passed decision expressing Ethiopia’s commitment to an unconditional implementation of Algiers peace agreement with Eritrea.

The peace agreement ended the two-year border war, but a tense armed standoff continued, with the two countries engaging in skirmishes occasionally.

Ethiopia until this month had declined to endorse the results of the peace agreement fully, including the symbolically important town of Badme which Ethiopia currently controls but which was awarded to Eritrea.

Eritrea for its part had until recently insisted the border demarcation has to be done first before any talks on normalizing ties.

Xinhua