ETHIOPIA, ERITREA AGREES TO END BORDER DISPUTE
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has begun a visit to Eritrea, days after the two countries agreed to end a two-decade-old border dispute.
BBC reports that Prime Minister Ahmed was welcomed in the Eritrean capital Asmara by President Isaias Afewerki. The trip follows a visit to Addis Ababa by an Eritrean delegation.
Mr Ahmed, who took office in April, has accepted a ruling awarding disputed territory to Eritrea.
Eritrea won independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a lengthy conflict.
But within five years the neighbours were fighting over remote border areas, including the town of Badme.
Tens of thousands of people were killed in two years of fighting.
The land was awarded to Eritrea by a 2002 border commission ruling, but Ethiopia refused to accept it and retained its troops there.
The two sides have remained on a war footing since then.
In a further sign of warming ties, direct international phone calls have been restored between the two countries for the first time in more than 20 years, the Ethiopian prime minister's office said.
BBC reports that Prime Minister Ahmed was welcomed in the Eritrean capital Asmara by President Isaias Afewerki. The trip follows a visit to Addis Ababa by an Eritrean delegation.
Mr Ahmed, who took office in April, has accepted a ruling awarding disputed territory to Eritrea.
Eritrea won independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a lengthy conflict.
But within five years the neighbours were fighting over remote border areas, including the town of Badme.
Tens of thousands of people were killed in two years of fighting.
The land was awarded to Eritrea by a 2002 border commission ruling, but Ethiopia refused to accept it and retained its troops there.
The two sides have remained on a war footing since then.
In a further sign of warming ties, direct international phone calls have been restored between the two countries for the first time in more than 20 years, the Ethiopian prime minister's office said.