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Eighteen years after the guns were killed after Ethiopia's bloody war against Eritrea, the border town of Zalambessa is a quiet and cluttered outpost of rubble, crossed by a road that leads nowhere. Ethiopian and Eritrean leaders have agreed to restore their relations, raising hopes that trade will resume and cities like Zalambessa will experience a new boom.
"There is no doubt," said Tirhas Gerekidan, hairdresser of the city. "If the road opens, things will change."
Ethiopian small and large businesses, one of Africa's fastest growing economies despite widespread poverty, should benefit from the reopening of the border.
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But badysts warn that Eritrea, which has become one of the most closed societies in the world with an unfavorable business climate, under President Isaias Afwerki, might not share the economic spoils of the new era of engagement. "The potential of this deal … to revitalize its economy is huge," said Seth Kaplan, a professor at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, who studied Eritrea's economy. . "The big unknown is what Isaias will do."
Eritrea, formerly a province of Ethiopia that incorporated the entire coastline of a single nation, fought a war of war. Independence of several decades before voting to leave in 1993.
Second most populous country – although Ethiopia continued to export through Eritrean ports until the breakup of the country. a border conflict in 1998.
in Zalambessa which is the last Ethiopian city on the main road between the capitals of the countries.
Eritrea then "systematically razed it," wrote the local Catholic bishop in a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General in 2003.
"There was nothing left A peace treaty ended the fighting in 2000, but hopes that the borders will be reopened when Ethiopia rejects a UN-backed effort to definitively settle the border issue two years later.
The road from Zalambessa to Eritrea is blocked by the army, and the once bustling mall where cactuses grow in buildings damaged by the conflict is strangely silent.
Stranded ports Eritrea, Ethiopia transferred its maritime trade to neighboring Djibouti by investing heavily in rail and other infrastructure as it became one of Africa's fastest growing economies
. The no Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, announced in June that he would privatize key public companies, including Ethiopian Airlines and Ethio Telecom.
Getachew Teklemariam, consultant and former adviser to the Ethiopian government, said that while economic reforms and warming relations n They were not necessarily linked, they could both reinvigorate the economy.
"Rapprochement relieves resources of military accumulation that has occurred over the years." I said.
Eritrea reacted to Ethiopia's rejection of the UN's border settlement by a widespread crackdown on dissent that then deterred investment.
Repressive policies stifled its emerging entrepreneurial clbad, dissidents were arrested, and an indefinite military service program was established. Kaplan says, "Eritrea has done everything in its power to prevent foreign investment"
Hundreds of thousands of Eritreans fled abroad, partly to avoid conscription which, according to many migrants, contributes to poverty.
Isaias insisted that compulsory national service was necessary to deter Ethiopian aggression, but did not comment on the regime's future since the thaw with Addis Ababa
Kaplan suggested that Eritrea may not change its uncompromising policies and become more welcoming to foreigners, but that it could instead seek investments for two Mr. Getachew has added that trade between Ethiopia and Eritrea had been tense even before the war.
The Smuggling of Ethiopian Smuggling Across the Eritrean Ports and Asmara's Handling of its Nakfa Currency Tightened Relationships and Contributed "I Fear Now, Even After All These Years, That Our Regulatory Capacity Is Not Enough strong to avoid this kind of malpractices, "he said.
And even though Ethiopia is anxious to get there Getachew warned that the two ports of Assab and Mbadawa, more profitable in Eritrea, were in bad shape after the drying out trade after the war.
Another sign of rapid rapprochement, the spokesman of the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Meles Alem. the roads leading to Assab were already repaired to allow rapid use of the port.
Residents living along the border hope cross-border trade will begin to flourish Departures between Ethiopian and Eritrean troops will end
"While others listened to music, we listened to beatings of fire, "said Taema, the coffee owner. "It's better to be open than to be closed, and peace is better than war."
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