(Bloomberg) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arrived in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, Sunday for talks with President Isaias Afwerki aimed at ending almost two decades of strife.

“This historic official visit and the summit that will take place between the two leaders of both countries, is the first of its kind for 20 years,” Yemane Gebremeskel, Eritrea’s information minister, said on his Twitter account. “It heralds a new era of peace and cooperation.”

A meeting between Isaias and Abiy, whose nations have been at odds since a 1998-2000 border war, will cap landmark talks that began last month between officials from both countries. Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia in 1993 after decades of conflict. A rapprochement began after Abiy became premier in April and the ruling party’s politburo pledged to implement a long-delayed peace deal.

Ethiopia announced on June 5 it would fully implement the so-called Algiers Agreement signed in 2000 to formally end a two-year war between the Horn of Africa neighbors that killed about 100,000 people. The deal was never enacted, with Ethiopia refusing to recognize a monitor’s findings on ownership of the disputed border town of Badme.

Isaias sent a delegation, including Foreign Minister Osman Saleh, for talks in Ethiopia after Abiy said he was keen on normalizing relations.

Abiy arrived in Asmara on an Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise plane. The national carrier is resume flights to neighboring Eritrea by September after a two-decade absence.

“Our two nations share a history and bond like no other,” the Ethiopian prime minister’s chief of staff, Fitsum Arega, said on his Twitter account. “We can now overcome two decades of mistrust and move in a new direction.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Helen Nyambura in Nairobi at hnyambura@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption Ethiopia had refused to remove its troops from the region around Badme, the dusty market town at the centre of the dispute

Ethiopia's governing coalition has announced it will fully accept and implement the peace deal that ended its border war with Eritrea.

It says it will accept the outcome of a 2002 border commission ruling, which awarded disputed territories, including the town of Badme, to Eritrea.

This will end a dispute with Eritrea that sparked Africa's deadliest border war in 1998.

Tens of thousands of people were killed in two years of fighting.

The two sides have remained on a war footing as Ethiopia had, until now, refused to accept the ruling of the border commission, which was set up as part of a peace deal.

As a result, Ethiopia had refused to withdraw its troops out of the disputed areas - leading Eritrea to accuse Ethiopia of forcefully occupying its territory.

"The Eritrean government should take the same stand without any prerequisite and accept our call to bring back the long-lost peace of the two brother nations as it was before," the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) wrote on Facebook.

Eritrea had refused to hold any talks with Ethiopia until it agreed unconditionally to the border commission's findings.

Ethiopia's new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had promised to make peace with the country's northern neighbour after taking power earlier this year.

BBC World Service Africa editor Will Ross says if Ethiopia does now remove soldiers from the disputed land, it would show it is serious about seeking peace.

Timeline

24 May 1993 : Eritrean independence from Ethiopia officially declared

: Eritrean independence from Ethiopia officially declared 6 May 1998 : Border war begins

: Border war begins 18 June 2000 : Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities signed

: Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities signed 12 December 2000 : Algiers Peace Agreement signed

: Algiers Peace Agreement signed 13 April 2002: The Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission delivered its "final and binding" ruling

Read more: </s> Ethiopia and Eritrea are no longer at war, the neighbours said in a joint statement Monday, a day after their leaders held a historic meeting in Asmara.

Quoting from a "Joint Declaration of Peace and Friendship," Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel said on Twitter the "state of war that existed between the two countries has come to an end. A new era of peace and friendship has been ushered (in)."

"Both countries will work to promote close cooperation in political, economic, social, cultural and security areas," Yemane added.

He said the agreement was signed by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki on Monday morning at state house in Asmara.

Images of the ceremony showed the two men sharing a wooden desk, backed by their nations' flags, as they simultaneously signed the document.

The declaration echoed comments made by Abiy at a dinner hosted by Isaias late Sunday, where he said diplomatic, trade, transport and communications ties would be re-established and borders reopened.

Recent weeks of rapid rapprochement are aimed at ending decades of animosity, periods of outright conflict and many years of cold war between the two countries.

The thaw began last month when Abiy said Ethiopia would abide by a 2002 UN-backed ruling, made after a two-year frontier war, and hand back disputed border territory, including the flashpoint town of Badme, to Eritrea. </s> Espousing love between their two countries, the leaders of longtime adversaries Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed Sunday to restore diplomatic relations after nearly 20 years and to open the border between their neighbouring Horn of Africa countries.

Ethiopia's reformist new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arrived in Eritrea's capital and was welcomed with hugs and laughter by Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, a joyous scene unthinkable just months ago.

After being cheered by crowds in Asmara, Eritrea's capital, and holding private meetings, the two leaders attended a dinner and announced new measures.

"We have agreed to open up embassies in our respective countries, allow our people to visit each other's cities and allow our airlines and ports to operate freely," said Abiy, in comments covered by Eritrean state television.

'What we need now is love'

Abiy said the two leaders have "agreed to bring down the wall between us. Now there is no border between Ethiopia and Eritrea. That border line has gone today with the display of a true love … love is greater than modern weapons like tanks and missiles. Love can win hearts, and we have seen a great deal of it today here in Asmara. From this time on, war is not an option for the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia. What we need now is love."

With laughter and hugs, the two leaders of longtime rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea met for the first time in nearly two decades Sunday amid a rapid and dramatic diplomatic thaw aimed at ending one of Africa's longest-running conflicts. (ERITV/Associated Press)

The Eritrean leader also effused about the new era of friendly relations between the two countries.

"The Eritrean people have today got the chance to express their true love and emotion for Ethiopians," said Afwerki. "We can imagine that the decisions the prime minister of Ethiopia took was not a simple one. But we can assure you we will face the future together. We will work as one."

Earlier in the day, crowds danced and sang for the leaders, and Asmara's streets were hung with Ethiopian and Eritrean flags.

Abiy, 42, and Afwerki, 72, travelled across the capital in a large motorcade as people wearing T-shirts with the images of the leaders cheered. The leaders then met one-on-one, with a smiling Abiy leaning toward Afwerki under a wall hung with their portraits.

Peace deal ends 20-year border war

Also Sunday, telephone connections were established between the neighbouring countries.

The visit of Ethiopia's prime minister to Asmara comes a month after Abiy surprised people by fully accepting a peace deal that ended a 20-year border war between the two East African nations that killed tens of thousands. Ethiopia and Eritrea have not had diplomatic ties since the war began in 1998, with Abiy himself fighting in a town that remains contested today, and the countries have skirmished since then.

Ethiopians expressed a welcome shock at the meeting, which was shown live by Ethiopia's state TV.

"Historic … the beginning of the end. The glass ceiling has been broken," one resident, Shewit Wudassie, wrote on Facebook. Another Facebook user, Djphat Su, wrote: "Am I dreaming or what?"

Ethiopians chant slogans during a rally in support of the newly elected prime minister in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 23. (Maheder Haileselassie/Reuters)

The decision to fully accept the peace deal was the biggest and most surprising reform yet announced by Ethiopia's prime minister, who took office in April and quickly set off a wave of reforms, freeing journalists and opposition figures from prison, opening up the state-run economy and unblocking hundreds of websites after years of anti-government protests demanding more freedoms.

Ethiopia used the visit to announce that the flagship Ethiopian Airlines would soon begin flights to Eritrea, and already Abiy has expressed interest in landlocked Ethiopia having access to Eritrean ports.

Eritrea is one of the world's most closed-off nations

While Ethiopia is Africa's second most populous nation, with more than 100 million people, and one of the world's fastest-growing economies, tiny Eritrea, with five million people, is one of the world's most closed-off nations, ruled by Afwerki since gaining independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after years of rebel warfare. But the two countries share close cultural ties.

Eritrea has become a major source of migrants fleeing toward Europe, Israel and African nations in recent years as human rights groups criticize its harsh military conscription laws. Observers of the diplomatic thaw have asked whether peace with Ethiopia would lead Eritrea to loosen up and drop its long defensive stance.

"Reconciliation would deprive President Isaias of an excuse for maintaining his country in a permanent state of military readiness" that has blocked Eritrea from developing any form of democracy, said Martin Plaut, author of Understanding Eritrea, and a senior research fellow with the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London.

Throngs of Ethiopians attended the rally. (Reuters)

Abiy's move broke a long stalemate between Afwerki and the long-dominant Tigrayan party in Ethiopia's ruling coalition. "Abiy represents the majority of Ethiopians rather than the Tigrayan ethnic group" and is not beholden to it, Plaut said, adding that Afwerki accepted the peace gesture "since it allowed him to portray it as a triumph over his Tigrayan rivals."

Not everyone has welcomed Ethiopia's embrace of the peace deal, with some residents in the northern Tigray region bordering Eritrea holding protests. </s> , Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Jul 9 – Ethiopia and Eritrea are no longer at war, the neighbours said in a joint statement Monday, a day after their leaders held a historic meeting in Asmara.

Quoting from a “Joint Declaration of Peace and Friendship,” Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel said on Twitter the “state of war that existed between the two countries has come to an end. A new era of peace and friendship has been ushered (in).”

“Both countries will work to promote close cooperation in political, economic, social, cultural and security areas,” Yemane added.

He said the agreement was signed by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki on Monday morning at state house in Asmara.

Images of the ceremony showed the two men sharing a wooden desk, backed by their nations’ flags, as they simultaneously signed the document.

The declaration echoed comments made by Abiy at a dinner hosted by Isaias late Sunday, where he said diplomatic, trade, transport and communications ties would be re-established and borders reopened.

Recent weeks of rapid rapprochement are aimed at ending decades of animosity, periods of outright conflict and many years of cold war between the two countries.

The thaw began last month when Abiy said Ethiopia would abide by a 2002 UN-backed ruling, made after a two-year frontier war, and hand back disputed border territory, including the flashpoint town of Badme, to Eritrea. </s> ADDIS ABABA : Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arrived in the Eritrean capital Asmara on Sunday, the first visit by an Ethiopian leader to Eritrea in 20 years.

The visit comes after the two countries started tentative steps to end a two decades old bitter border dispute that led to a bloody two-year war from 1998-2000, that left an estimated 70,000 people dead from both sides.

Ahmed was greeted at the Asmara International Airport by Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and is expected to hold discussions on efforts to bring lasting peace between the two nations. In a press statement, earlier on Sunday, Fitsum Arega, Chief of Staff of the Office of Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, said discussions will be held with the Eritrean president on ways to revive the common history and bond between the two nations interrupted by two decades of mistrust. Earlier this month Ethiopia received a high-level Eritrean delegation led by Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Salah, the first high level Eritrean delegation to visit Ethiopia in 20 years.

The Eritrean delegation came to Ethiopia after Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki declared that his country would send a team to Ethiopia to assess a recent Ethiopia peace offer.

On June 5, the Executive Committee of the ruling party, the Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) passed decision expressing Ethiopia's commitment to an unconditional implementation of Algiers peace agreement with Eritrea.

The peace agreement ended the two-year border war, but a tense armed standoff continued, with the two countries engaging in skirmishes occasionally.

Ethiopia until this month had declined to endorse the results of the peace agreement fully, including the symbolically important town of Badme which Ethiopia currently controls but which was awarded to Eritrea.

Eritrea for its part had until recently insisted the border demarcation must be done first before any talks on normalizing ties. </s> With hugs and cheers, the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea have met for the first time in more than 25 years amid a recent thawing in relations between the two long-time East African rivals.

In a landmark visit, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed landed in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, on Sunday, for a bi-lateral summit, aimed at repairing relations between the two countries. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki warmly greeted Abiy at the airport, Eritrea’s state television showed.

“A truly historic moment with memorable watershed events: brotherly embrace of the leaders,” said Yemane G Meskel, Eritrea’s minister of information, on Twitter, adding that Ethiopian Airlines landed in Asmara for the first time in 20 years.

The visit comes a month after Abiy surprised people by fully accepting a peace deal that ended a two-year border war between the two countries.

A high-level Eritrean delegation led by Foreign Minister Osman Saleh had earlier visited the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, last month for peace talks.

This week’s summit aims to “further deepen efforts to bring about lasting peace,” said Abiy’s chief of staff, Fitsum Arega.

“Our two nations share a history and bond like no other,” he said on Twitter. “We can now overcome two decades of mistrust and move in a new direction.”

Video footage from the Ethiopian state television showed crowds dancing and singing for the two leaders at the Asmara International Airport.

Ahead of Abiy’s arrival, Ethiopian Information Minister Meskel said the visit “heralds a new era of peace and coopertion”.

Ethiopians expressed welcome shock at the landmark meeting.

“Historic … the beginning of the end. The glass ceiling has been broken,” one resident, Shewit Wudassie, wrote on Facebook.

Eritrea, which comprised of Ethiopia’s only access to the sea, broke off from its larger neighbour in 1993 leaving Addis Ababa landlocked.

The East African countries fought a bloody border war that erupted in 1998. The two-year war left more than 80,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.

A UN-backed peace agreement in 2000 awarded the disputed border territories to Eritrea, but the deal was never implemented.

The countries have skirmished since then in one of Africa’s longest-running conflicts.

Last month’s decision last month to fully accept the deal was the biggest and most surprising reform yet announced by Ethiopia’s 42-year-old prime minister, who took office in April and quickly set off a wave of reforms, freeing journalists and opposition figures from prison, opening up the state-run economy and unblocking hundreds of websites after years of anti-government protests demanding more freedoms. </s> The leaders of Eritrea and Ethiopia embraced at Asmara International Airport Sunday, a historic moment in what has long been one of Africa’s most entrenched conflicts.

The meeting between Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed continues a thawing of relations between the two countries.

The summit, in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, is the first time the countries’ heads of government have met since 2000, when Afwerki and former Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi signed the Algiers Agreement, formally ending two years of deadly conflict between the countries.

Ethiopia refused to implement the terms of a deal to demarcate the countries’ shared border two years after the Algiers agreement was signed and continued to occupy land awarded to Eritrea by an international court.

That led to a cold war between the East African countries that has lasted nearly 20 years, with particularly damaging effects on Eritrea, a country a fraction the size of Ethiopia.

Afwerki has used the border conflict as a reason for strict rule, compulsory national service and perpetually deferred elections.

But Sheila Keetharuth, the United Nation’s special rapporteur on Eritrea, said these conditions have also led to “arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention, indefinite military/national service amounting to forced labor, with a range of violations committed in this context, as well as severe restrictions of fundamental freedoms.”

Eritreans and Ethiopians share language, culture and familial ties. But Eritrea’s 30-year war for independence from Ethiopia, along with the border war, have created deep fissures.

Until recently, the conflict between the countries seemed unsolvable.

That changed in early June, when Ahmed made the surprise announcement that Ethiopia would accept the terms of the Algiers Agreement.

Previous prime ministers have made similar promises, but Ahmed’s overture carried special weight. The 41-year-old assumed office in April at the height of a political crisis after years of unrest in two of Ethiopia’s largest regions. He has since enacted many reforms and promised a new era of unity and accountability.

He is also Ethiopia’s first prime minister from Oromia, a region far removed from the contentious border region and the TPLF political party that controlled Ethiopia since Eritrea, a former province, gained independence in 1993.

In late June, Eritrea sent a high-level delegation to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, for several days of talks with Ahmed, setting the stage for Sunday’s summit.

Afwerki, dressed in an olive-colored suit, embraced Ahmed after he came down the steps from his Ethiopian Airlines jetliner with his entourage and walked across the tarmac. Red carpet had been laid, and a crowd of onlookers and a brass band flanked the leaders, who later greeted some of those in attendance. Some wore T-shirts adorned with images of the two leaders and told Eri TV, the sole state-owned broadcaster, about the significance of peace between the countries.

Afwerki and Ahmed then rode through Asmara, where cheering crowds warmly greeted them, on their way to begin formal talks.

If the nations do find a path toward peace, the impact could be deep and far reaching.

Ethiopia is landlocked, and access to Eritrea’s ports could transform its economy and strengthen its ability to deliver humanitarian aid. Eritrea’s economy could also benefit, and long-standing human rights concerns could be addressed, observers say.

Keetharuth, who has reached the end of her six-year mandate, told the U.N. that resolving the border conflict would set the stage for peace, but true peace for Eritrea would entail much more.

“The mentality needs to change because up to now it has been a mentality, especially, for both sides, preserving where we are in terms of borders, preserving our gains in terms of territory and preserving other issues.”

Human rights, justice and respect must be achieved for true and lasting peace, Keetharuth said. </s> The leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea have officially opened the border where a bloody war divided them for decades, with emotional residents embracing after years of separation.

The leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea have officially opened the border where a bloody war divided them for decades, with emotional residents embracing after years of separation.

Troops to pull out as Ethiopian and Eritrean leaders officially open border

Taking the next step in a dramatic diplomatic thaw, Ethiopia later announced that troops on both sides would withdraw.

Ethiopia’s reformist new prime minister Abiy Ahmed and long-time Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki “marked the radical transformation of the Ethio-Eritrea border into a frontier of peace & friendship”, Mr Abiy’s chief of staff Fitsum Arega said in a Twitter post.

The leaders visited the Bure Front with members of their militaries to mark the Ethiopian new year and later did the same at the Serha-Zalambesa crossing, Eritrean information minister Yemane Meskel.

Photos showed Mr Abiy in camouflage gear walking alongside Mr Isaias in olive drab, while a ribbon stretched across one border post bristled with military personnel carrying not guns but cameras.

Hundreds of civilians waved flags, and people of the countries’ Tigray region, who share close cultural ties, danced while flag-draped camels wandered by.

In comments carried by the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate, Mr Abiy announced: “To ease the tense atmosphere that existed in border areas, Ethiopian Defence Forces will return to various camps to recover and obtain additional training. The same will be done on the Eritrean side. Until then, soldiers will assist local farmers and shift to development activities.”

The former bitter rivals have made a stunning reconciliation since Mr Abiy – weeks after taking office in April – announced that Ethiopia would fully embrace a peace deal that ended a 1998-2000 border war that killed tens of thousands.

At the time, he said the countries would celebrate the Ethiopian new year together: “We want our brothers and sisters to come here and visit us as soon as possible.”

Embassies have reopened, telephone lines have been restored and commercial flights between the capitals have resumed as some long-separated families have held tearful reunions.

Landlocked Ethiopia, one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, and Eritrea, one of the world’s most closed-off nations, also plan development co-operation around Eritrea’s Red Sea ports in particular.
Leaders from Eritrea and Ethiopia officially declare an end to their countries' 20-year border conflict.