Eritrea and Ethiopia declare the end of the war

The war is over, after 20 years: The Ethiopian and Eritrean leaders have formally ended the state of war of their decades-old enemies by signing a joint declaration in the Eritrean capital , Asmara. This was announced by the Eritrean Minister of Information Yemane Meskel via Twitter

A few days ago, Ethiopia had unconditionally accepted the peace agreement of Algiers in 2000. Central point: the cessation of all hostilities and the end of the war

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed met with Eritrean leader Isaias Afwerki in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, on Sunday

. The governments of countries that were hostile to each other for two decades took several steps towards a concrete approximation.

These details have been reported up to here:

• Both sides announced to resume diplomatic relations and to open embbadies
• They also agreed to resume direct telephone connections
• Abiy said that they had also agreed to a partial recovery of pbadenger and freight traffic
• Ethiopia without cohesion must also have access to the Red Sea through a Joint Operation Port in Eritrea as Ethiopian State Media Report

Eritrea belonged until 1993 to the I & # 39; 39; Ethiopia. Five years after independence, a war broke out between the two states, killing around 80,000 people. The Algiers Accord ended the conflict in 2000.

In June, a high-ranking delegation from Asmara visited the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa for the first time after the war. Until last month, the two countries had no diplomatic relations.

Abiy only had a few months in office and announced reforms and the opening of his country. Ethiopia, which has 100 million inhabitants, struggled for years with civil unrest, being deemed autocratic by a one-party regime. As a party leader, Abiy is also the head of government and therefore the central figure of the influential country of East Africa.

Nearby Eritrea is largely isolated internationally and is considered one of the most repressive countries in the world. Poverty and long military service are seen as the causes of the flight of tens of thousands of young people, especially to Europe.