Italy's PM visits Ethiopia and soon Eritrea to support peace

October 11, 2018

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Italy's prime minister is visiting Ethiopia and is awaited in Eritrea after the neighbors and once-bitter rivals made surprising peace earlier this year. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte says this is the first visit by a Western leader since the peace accord that ended years of deadly border tensions.

Conte is expected to discuss migration, a sensitive topic in Italy, as well as investment opportunities in Ethiopia, one of Africa's fastest-growing economies. He was met at the airport by Ethiopia's reformist new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and is expected to meet with members of the Italian community.

Eritrea's information minister says Conte on Friday will discuss bilateral cooperation and "international matters of mutual interest" with longtime President Isaias Afwerki during his visit. Eritrea is a major source of migrants.

Ethiopian, Eritrean leaders at concert for diplomatic thaw

July 15, 2018

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — At least 25,000 Ethiopians are at a concert where new, reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrea's President Isaias Afweki are expected to celebrate the new friendship between their neighboring countries.

The concert on Sunday highlights the end of years of hostility between the two arch-foes in East Africa, who fought a bloody border war from 1998 to 2000. The antagonism ended last month when Ethiopia accepted a peace deal originally signed in 2000.

Eritrea's longtime leader arrived in Ethiopia on Saturday, his first visit in 22 years. Isaias is reciprocating the Ethiopian leader's trip to Eritrea last Sunday. Isaias was greeted by Ethiopia's Abiy in a red carpet welcome. People danced at the airport when Isaias arrived and Addis Ababa residents lined main streets to see Isaias' motorcade.

Near the airport, some residents chanted songs criticizing the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front, which used to be Ethiopian ruling coalition's strongest political party until Abiy came to power at the beginning of April.

The thaw with Eritrea began when the 42-year-old Abiy announced in June that Ethiopia would fully accept the 2000 peace deal that ended the two-year border war which killed tens of thousands and separated families. The decision, which hands some key disputed border areas to Eritrea, was Abiy's boldest move yet in a wave of reforms in which he aims to end anti-government protests in Africa's second most populous country, which has 100 million people.

The of the state of war between the two countries has been praised by the United States and the United Nations. The U.N. Security Council called it a "historic and significant development with far-reaching positive consequences for the Horn of Africa and beyond."

The Eritrean leader is expected to re-open his country's embassy in Addis on Monday. On Saturday Isaias visited an Ethiopian industrial park in southern Ethiopia. Tiny Eritrea, with a population of about 5 million, is located on one of the world's busiest shipping lanes and across the Red Sea from the Arabian Peninsula. It has been ruled by Isaias since it gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993, after years of rebel warfare. In recent years, many Eritreans have fled to Europe, Israel and African nations to avoid military conscription and what human rights groups say is harsh rule.

Eritrea: Security Council Imposes Sanctions

The Security Council today imposed arms and travel sanctions on Eritrea for supporting insurgents trying to topple the nascent government in nearby Somalia.

The resolution, supported by 13 of the 15 members of the Council, places an arms embargo on Eritrea, imposes travel bans on the Horn of Africa nation's top political and military officials, and freezes the country's assets.

China, one of the five permanent members of the Council, abstained from voting for the resolution, while Libya voted against it.

In the resolution, the Council expressed concern over Eritrea's rejection of the United Nations-facilitated Djibouti Agreement, a 2008 peace accord between Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS).

Despite that pact, fighting and humanitarian suffering continue to engulf Somalia, which has been without a central authority for nearly two decades. Eritrea and Djibouti are also engaged in a border dispute.

Today's resolution "demands that all Member States, in particular Eritrea, cease arming, training, and equipping armed groups and their members including al-Shabaab, that aim to destabilize the region or incite violence and civil strife in Djibouti."

It also calls on all nations to support the Djibouti peace process and support the TFG's reconciliation efforts in Somalia.

Further, the document demands that Eritrea acknowledge its dispute with Djibouti and actively take part in talks to defuse tensions.

The Council also reiterated its "serious concern at the refusal of Eritrea so far to engage in dialogue with Djibouti, or to accept bilateral contacts, mediation or facilitation efforts by the sub-regional or regional organizations or to respond positively to the efforts of the Secretary-General."