Peace with many points of questioning | The Lucerne newspaper

Defrosting in the Horn of Africa: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (left) meets Eritrean leader Isaias Afwerki in Asmara. (Photo: AP, July 8, 2018)

These are rare images that have reached the world since isolated Eritrea. They show a hug between Eritrean leader Isaias Afewerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed at the airport of Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. These are historical images for nations long hostile.

On Sunday, the memorable meeting of the two statesmen took place. On Monday, it was finally announced that Eritrea and Ethiopia had signed a "Joint Declaration of Peace and Friendship". Embassies and borders will be reopened, Ethiopian airlines should return to Asmara next week, and Ethiopia will be able to use an Eritrean port on the Red Sea.

The hope of an opening of isolated Eritrea is bound to this agreement. East African expert Annette Weber of the Berlin Science and Politics Foundation (SWP) describes the friendship treaty as a "step". It develops a dynamic in which it is not clear if it could be stopped by the authoritarian Eritrean leadership. Ethiopia has great economic interests with access to the Red Sea, Weber says. For the Eritrean dictator Afewerki, the development was not only positive: "An opening of the country would call into question the previous policy of ideological isolation of Afewerkis."

DFA hopes to change the practice of national service

This includes national service. Since the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia between 1998 and 2000, which has claimed nearly 80,000 lives, all Eritreans have been called to serve this service indefinitely, whether military or civilian such as road construction or mines. The national service is a major reason for the country's massive emigration – also in Switzerland. Many Eritreans have been granted asylum for refusing national service. According to figures from the State Secretariat for Migration, about 24,500 Eritreans lived in Switzerland at the end of May – by far the largest group of African population in that country. However, the national service could be abandoned as a reason for asylum in the foreseeable future. "It's hard to imagine that mandatory service is maintained if the country opens up," Annette Weber explains. By maintaining peace with Ethiopia, the main legitimacy of the national service disappears. Nevertheless, Weber assumes that emigration from Eritrea will continue at least for the moment: "There is still no political change, no lifting of repression, no parliament," she says.

The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) hopes for a change in the practice of national services: "Switzerland is convinced that the end of the conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia could have a positive effect on the organization and duration of national service in Eritrea ". it is called upon request. The FDFA welcomes the "positive developments in the relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia and hopes that this process will lead to a real rapprochement between the two neighboring countries".

Annette Weber of the SWP believes that this rapprochement is for Eritrea The population will have positive effects. "The opening can only lead to an improvement because it can hardly get worse." The question is how does Afewerki behave? The dictator has been in power since the founding of the state in 1993. He is deeply rooted in the struggle for independence against Ethiopia. Weber: "If he is the leader of this change, then he has control over the speed of the opening of Eritrea.He opposes the change, there is a possibility that the population will oppose its policies. "