Emotional meetings for Ethiopian and Eritrean families at the end of the state of war

The burden of the Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict weighed heavily on some families. Families lost loved ones, more than 80,000 people were killed on both sides during the two-year war. But there were also families who were condemned to live separately until the rapprochement initiated by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed brought peace between the two countries after a good 20 years of stalemate.

The husband and wife were separated. The children and the parents were separated. This happened after the government of Meles Zenawi decided to expel the Eritreans who had voted for the independence of Eritrea after the outbreak of the war between the two. country.

Addis Alem Hadgu has been working as a journalist for over twenty years. Ethiopian Television, now Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC). His wife was apparently deported to Eritrea with three children that Addis Alem Hadgu had never seen for more than 16 years

He traveled to Asmara today aboard the first Ethiopian Airlines ET0312 commercial flight in twenty years that was carrying 465 VIP pbadengers including the old Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegne, the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church – Abune Mathias – among others. And he finally met his daughters in Asmara. Recounting the horrific experiences of the last twenty years, he thanked God for the decision made by the leaders of both countries.

The return trip, which lasts approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes, brought 90 Eritreans to Addis Ababa.

He was separated from his mother and eagerly awaited his mother, Woizero Alganesh, at Bole International Airport. When they met, they hugged each other and in tears like two little children, the big children of Alganesh, look at them.

"We have been separated for twenty years, and I never thought we would see each other again," said Semhar, who lives in Ethiopia, to a journalist with the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation.

Video Credit: EBC

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