The President of Eritrea, Isaias Afwerki is sending a delegation to Addis Ababa for what he describes as ”constructive engagement” with the new Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed as confirmed by a senior official of the Eritrean government.
After Prime Minister Ahmed opened peace overtures with its archrival, urging the ruling coalition to accept and implement the Algiers Agreement of December 2000 which included a decision to award the disputed town of Badme to Eritrea.
Estifanos Afeworki, the Eritrean ambassador to Japan, without giving out details, took to Twitter saying that President Isaias has made an announcement which could see a significant breakthrough in one of the continent’s most prolonged conflicts.
The international community welcomed the decision by Ethiopia to implement the Algiers Agreement but back in the own of Badme, residents put up a resistance with some factions of the ruling coalition questioning the process to arrive at that decision.
On Wednesday, President Isaias Afwerki raised prospects of a possible detente in one of Africa’s most stale conflict when he described the recent peace overtures as ”positive messages” with Eritrea’s archnemesis Ethiopia.
Addressing a crowd in the nation’s capital Asmana while celebrating Martyr’s Day, President Isaias said he was dispatching a delegation to Addis Ababa to help understand and ”map out future plans” with new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told Ethiopian lawmakers that the decision to make peace with Eritrea was for the interest of development. In his inaugural speech, while being sworn into office in April, improved relations with Eritrea was among his key policy issues to be implemented.
Neba Benson,
BaretaNews Foreign Correspondent/Analyst
