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ETHIOPIA-ERITREA-PEACE-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY
Ethiopia’s Abiy meets Eritrean leader for first time since winning Nobel
ADDIS ABABA, Dec 25, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki
flew to Addis Ababa Wednesday for his first meeting with the Ethiopian prime
minister since Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize for initiating a thaw
between the sparring neighbours.
Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a border war in 1998-2000 that left an
estimated 80,000 dead before a prolonged stalemate took hold.
Shortly after he came to power last year, Abiy, 43, stunned observers at
home and abroad by reaching out to Isaias and creating momentum for a peace
deal.
Abiy welcomed Isaias at Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport,
Ethiopia’s state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate said.
“During his stay in Ethiopia, the Eritrean president is expected to meet
with Ethiopian officials to discuss bilateral issues,” Fana said.
Isaias was accompanied by Foreign Minister Osman Saleh and Yemane Gebreab,
a presidential advisor, according to a post on Twitter by Eritrean
Information Minister Yemane G. Meskel.
“The two leaders will discuss enhancement of important bilateral &
regional matters,” Yemane wrote.
Abiy’s office and a spokesman for Ethiopia’s foreign affairs ministry did
not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After the two leaders first met and embraced on the tarmac in Asmara, the
Eritrean capital, last year, they reopened embassies, resumed flights and
held a series of meetings across the region.
But the initial optimism fuelled by these gestures has faded, and citizens
of both countries complain that they are still waiting for meaningful change.
During the Nobel award ceremony in Oslo earlier this month, Norwegian
Nobel Committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Anderson noted that the peace process
“seems to be at a standstill”, with border crossings closed and little
apparent progress on border demarcation efforts.
She said the committee hoped the Nobel would “spur the parties to further
implementation of the peace treaties”. Isaias and Abiy last met in Asmara in
July.
Upon returning from Oslo to Ethiopia this month, Abiy expressed hope that
the two leaders would be able to meet “soon”.
Abiy wrote on Twitter Wednesday that he was “happy to welcome again to his
second home my comrade-in-peace, President Isaias Afeworki and his
delegation.”
BSS/AFP/RY/1545 hrs