Opening of Eritrea border seals peace deal

THE leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea reopened crossing points on their shared border for the first time in 20 years yesterday.

The move cements a stunning reconciliation and gives the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa a direct route to its former foe’s Red Sea ports.

Thousands of people from both countries watched the ceremony in Zalambessa, an Ethiopian border town that was reduced to rubble soon after hostilities between the neighbours broke out in 1998.

Soldiers and civilians waving Ethiopian and Eritrean flags lined the road as Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister, and Isaias Afwerki, the Eritrean president, opened the frontier in a ceremony broadcast live on Ethiopian television. Ethiopia later announced that troops on both sides would withdraw.

“This is the happiest day of my life,” Ruta Haddis, an Eritrean from the town of Senafe just across the frontier, told reporters. “I never thought this would take place in my lifetime.” The Eritrean and Ethiopian leaders have moved swiftly to restore ties between their countries after signing a breakthrough agreement in Asmara on July 9 to end two decades of hostility.

The war killed an estimated 80,000 people before fighting ended in 2000. Landlocked Ethiopia, with a population of more than 100million people, had been almost entirely dependent on its tiny neighbour Djibouti for access to the Red Sea since 1998.