Eritrea President Isaias Afwerki/AFP
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Jun 20 – Eritrea will send a delegation to bitter foe Ethiopia, President Isaias Afwerki said in a speech Wednesday, after Addis Ababa agreed to abide by a long-standing peace agreement.
Ethiopia’s new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, said earlier this month he would implement the 2000 Algiers Agreement that requires his military withdraw from the contested town of Badme and other territory that a United Nations-backed boundary commission ruled belongs to Eritrea.
In his first comments on Abiy’s overture, Isaias said, “We will send a delegation to Addis Ababa to gauge current developments directly and in depth as well as to chart out a plan for continuous future action.”
Isaias was speaking at an event commemorating those killed in Eritrea’s war for separation from Ethiopia.
A former province, Eritrea voted for independence from its much larger southern neighbour in 1993, but the two countries went to war from 1998 to 2000 in a conflict sparked by disagreements over the demarcation of their shared border.
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