Ethiopia hopes peace in Eritrea will bring prosperity

Zalambessa (Ethiopia) (AFP) – Eighteen years after the arms silence following Ethiopia's bloody war against Eritrea, the border town of Zalambessa is a calm outpost and soggy crossed by a road to nowhere. The change could be on the horizon after the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to restore their relations, raising the hope that trade will resume and that cities like Zalambessa will experience further expansion. "1965-9003" 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 reopening borders.

warn that Eritrea, which has become one of the most closed societies in the world with an unfavorable business climate, under the chairmanship of Isaias Afwerki, does not share can -be not the economic booty of the new era of commitment

revitalize its economy is huge, "said Seth Kaplan, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University in the United States, who has studied at the university. economy of Eritrea. "The big unknown is what Isaias will do."

Eritrea, an Ethiopian province that incorporated the entire coast of the nation, fought an independence war for several decades before voting to leave in 1993.

The second most populated – although Ethiopia continued to export through Eritrean ports until the outbreak of a border conflict in 1998.

– Bulldozer systematically & # 39; ; –

Eritrean troops poured south of Zalambessa. the main road between the capitals of the countries.

Eritrea then "systematically razed it," wrote the local Catholic bishop in a letter to the UN Secretary General in 2003.

"There was nothing left. said Taema Lemlem, the owner of a cafe in the city.

A peace treaty ended fighting in 2000, but hopes borders will reopen. rejected 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 from buildings damaged by the conflict is strangely calm. 19659015] Excluded from the ports of Eritrea, Ethiopia has transferred its maritime trade to neighboring Djibouti, investing heavily in rail and other infrastructure, thus becoming one of the fastest growing African economies. fast. New Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced in June that he would privatize key public companies, including Ethiopian Airlines and Ethio Telecom.

– As Slavery –

Getachew Teklemariam, consultant and former Ethiopian government advisor, said that reforms and warming relations were not necessarily linked, they could both revive l & # 39; economy.

"The rapprochement eases the resources of Eritrea reacted to Ethiopia's rejection of the UN's border settlement by a widespread crackdown on dissent which, in turn, deterred

Repressive policies stifled its emerging entrepreneurial clbad, dissidents were arrested and an indefinite military service program was mandated that drew comparisons to UN slavery.

"Eritrea has done everything in its power to prevent foreign investment." They fled abroad, partly to avoid conscription which, according to many migrants, contributes to poverty.

– "Listen to the shots" –

Isaias insisted that the compulsory national service was necessary to discourage Ethiopian aggression.the thaw with Addis Ababa

Kaplan suggested that Eryt He could not change his uncompromising policies or become more hospitable to foreigners, but rather Getachew added that trade between Ethiopia and Eritrea had already been heavy before the war.

Smuggling of Ethiopian contraband through Eritrean ports and Asmara's handling of his nakfa. "I fear now, even after all these years, that our regulatory capacity is not strong enough to avoid this kind of malpractice," he said.