ADDIS ABABA: Cheering crowds lined the streets of the Eritrean capital Asmara on Sunday as Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arrived for historic talks with President Isaias Afwerki aimed at repairing relations between the neighbours.

The Horn of Africa nations have remained at loggerheads since Ethiopia rejected a United Nations ruling and refused to cede to Eritrea land along the countries’ border following a 1998-2000 war that killed 80,000 people.

There was no sign of that animosity on Sunday as Abiy stepped from an Ethiopian Airlines plane at the airport in Asmara to be greeted by Isaias before the pair strode off along a red carpet.

Eritrean state television showed footage of the two men embracing while Abiy’s chief of staff, Fitsum Arega said on Twitter, “The visit offers a spectacular opportunity to decidedly move forward peace for the good of our people.”

Crowds waving both nations’ flags were shown thronging the streets of Asmara as a convoy carrying the two leaders passed.

“The visit is part of efforts to normalise relations with Eritrea. [Abiy] is expected to talk with the Eritrean leadership [about] how to mend fences,” said Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman Meles Alem.

Eritrea’s information minister Yemane Gebremeskel later tweeted a photo of the two leaders huddled in discussion, adding their meeting will, “set the tone for rapid, positive changes on the basis of respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

The discussions appeared to have already born fruit late Sunday, with Fitsum announcing that international telephone services between the two countries had been restored.

The historic visit came after Abiy’s move last month to abide by the 2002 decision from the UN-backed commission aimed at settling Ethiopia and Eritrea’s border dispute, which fuelled the two-year war.

The UN decision awards chunks of land along the border, including the flashpoint town of Badme, to Eritrea. Ethiopia had rejected the ruling and continues to occupy the town, sparking a heated rivalry between the two countries that has over the years erupted in gunfire.

Landlocked

Both nations have supported rebel groups intent on overthrowing the other’s government and periodically engaged in direct deadly skirmishes along the border.

Once a province of Ethiopia that comprised its entire coastline, Eritrea voted to leave in 1993 after a decades-long and bloody independence struggle.

The break rendered Ethiopia landlocked, and the deterioration of relations due to the continuing cold war forced Ethiopia to rely on Djibouti for its sea trade.

Eritrea has used the threat of renewed Ethiopian aggression to justify repressive policies including an indefinite national service programme the UN has likened to slavery.

Abiy took office in April and quickly pursued an ambitious reform agenda that has reversed some of the touchstone policies of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). He has released prominent dissidents from jail and also announced the partial liberalisation of the economy.

Abiy’s decision to honour the boundary ruling paved the way for two top Eritrean officials to visit Addis Ababa last month, after which the meeting between the two leaders was announced.

However, Ethiopian troops have yet to withdraw from the disputed territories along the border, and many of the Ethiopian residents of Badme are against ceding their town to Eritrea.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2018