Back in June, Ethiopia’s newly elected Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed made his first overtures of peace toward longtime border-mate and foe Eritrea. And since July 8th, the process has been rolling along at an amazing pace. Starting with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki’s three day visit to Ethiopia (the first of such in 20 years), the two countries agreed to end their state of war and restore all political and economic ties. In the week following the visit, embassies, flight routes, telephone lines, and more were almost immediately restored. The two nations have been locked in a virtual state of war since ending a border war that lasted from 1998 until 2000. It has been estimated that 70-80 thousand people died during the two years of aggression. After that, the two nations remained divided without any solid efforts to restore political or economic relations. Ethiopia sat land-locked, without access to Eritrea’s ports, and lands along the border remained in dispute. But now making up for “lost opportunities,” the two sides have worked at a frantic pace to restore and Ethiopian Airlines conducted its first flight to Eritrea last week. Various news agencies were even reporting of Ethiopian and Eritrean citizens randomly calling strangers on the other side-just happy to be able to call someone in their neighboring country for the first time in 20 years.
The conflict between the two nations goes back over 150 years and falls in the aftermath of incursions from The Ottoman, Egyptian, Italian, and British Empires. In 1952, Ethiopia annexed Eritrea and held power until independence was finally achieved in 1993. The borders, which consisted mostly of the coastline areas, remained hotly in dispute and erupted into war in 1998. A UN Resolution ended the direct war in 2000; but all diplomatic relations came to a halt and there were still multiple skirmishes occurring in the years since.
The current overtures of peace can benefit both nations in being able to redirect funds toward educational, healthcare, and infrastructure budgets. Additionally, this could and hopefully will be the impetus that motivates other African Nations to unite in working toward a brighter and more autonomous future.
SOURCES:
https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2018/07/17/how-ethiopia-and-eritrea-made-peace
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/07/eritrea-ethiopia-peace-nations-restore-links-180715083644956.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/07/eritrea-reopens-embassy-ethiopia-thaw-relations-180716065621148.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/07/ethiopia-eritrea-border-community-fears-split-180720142112101.html
http://time.com/5336629/ethiopia-eritrea-peace
The conflict between the two nations goes back over 150 years and falls in the aftermath of incursions from The Ottoman, Egyptian, Italian, and British Empires. In 1952, Ethiopia annexed Eritrea and held power until independence was finally achieved in 1993. The borders, which consisted mostly of the coastline areas, remained hotly in dispute and erupted into war in 1998. A UN Resolution ended the direct war in 2000; but all diplomatic relations came to a halt and there were still multiple skirmishes occurring in the years since.
The current overtures of peace can benefit both nations in being able to redirect funds toward educational, healthcare, and infrastructure budgets. Additionally, this could and hopefully will be the impetus that motivates other African Nations to unite in working toward a brighter and more autonomous future.
SOURCES:
https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2018/07/17/how-ethiopia-and-eritrea-made-peace
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/07/eritrea-ethiopia-peace-nations-restore-links-180715083644956.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/07/eritrea-reopens-embassy-ethiopia-thaw-relations-180716065621148.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/07/ethiopia-eritrea-border-community-fears-split-180720142112101.html
http://time.com/5336629/ethiopia-eritrea-peace
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