All you need to know about Ethiopia and Eritrea’s rapprochement

The pace of rapprochement between Eritrea and Ethiopia, longtime foes who have been in deadlock for the last 20 years, changes quickly. It is hard to keep up.

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Hawassa, Ethiopia. Image: Fitsem Arega, Chief of Staff, Prime Minister Office, Ethiopia.

By the time this is published, it could be old news.

To recap: On June 5th, Ethiopia declared it was fully implementing the Algiers Peace Treaty signed between the two countries in 2000. This was followed by a long silence on the Eritrean side. Then, suddenly, two weeks later, Eritrea not only accepted the peace offer, but took a step further and sent a delegation to Ethiopia. Shortly after, Ethiopia’s prime minister visited Eritrea. The two leaders signed a joint Declaration of Peace; telephone service between the two countries immediately resumed after 20 years; Ethiopian Airlines will start regular flights to Asmara (a direct flight between the two countries would take an hour; it currently can take up to a day); and roads are about to be opened between the two countries, etcetera. On 14 July, Eritrea’s president Isaias Afwerki visited Ethiopia for three days. The Eritrean embassy in Addis Ababa is expected to be re-opened during Afwerki’s visit in Ethiopia.

It has been a long time since Eritrea received any positive international coverage. At best, the country fed off visits by Eritrean-American celebrities in search of “home” or who represent aspects of Eritrean culture at public events. Like the the comedian Tiffany Haddish (her late father is Eritrean)  stole the show at the Oscars when she wore an Eritrean dress. Separately, Eritrean cyclist  Daniel Teklehaimanot made history in the Tour de France when he became the  first African to wear the “King of the Mountains” jersey. Otherwise, the country has been inextricably linked to tragedies (most notably having the dubious distinction of exporting the most African refugees from any country, the majority to Ethiopia.).

What has been the responses to the peace deal between the states? You could basically categorize them as three kinds:

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