Eritrean, Ethiopian leaders plan to meet soon in bid for peace

The Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki will meet soon as the two nations try to resolve one of Africa’s most intractable military stand-offs, state-affiliated media Fana said, citing the foreign minister.

A high-level Eritrean delegation arrived in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Tuesday for the first time since the two nations fought in 1998 over their disputed border, with diplomatic relations broken off ever since.

Abiy said this month he would honour all the terms of a peace deal, suggesting he might be ready to settle the border dispute.

The border war killed some 80,000 people and the sides remain at odds over the status of the frontier town of Badme. The border remains militarized.

Abiy was at a rally hit by a grenade that killed two people on Saturday an attack that government-affiliated media blamed on opponents of reforms announced since he took office in April, including airline and telecoms privatizations and the rapprochement with Eritrea.

Eritrea and Ethiopia broke off diplomatic relations two decades ago, although Asmara has a permanent delegation in Addis Ababa representing it at the African Union, whose headquarters are in the Ethiopian capital.

No Eritrean representatives have been part of an official visit for talks with the Ethiopian government since at least 1998.

Reuters