Ethiopian Airlines will resume flights to Eritrea’s capital Asmara next week, following the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Leaders of the two countries met in Asmara over the weekend, where they signed a declaration ending the “state of war”.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s visit to Eritrea was the first time in 20 years such a trip happened.
Abiy held talks with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, during which they officially ended a border war between the two countries.
Eritrea, which possessed Ethiopia’s only access to the sea, broke off from its larger neighbour in 1993 leaving Addis Ababa landlocked.
The East African countries fought a bloody border war that erupted in 1998, leaving more than 80,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.
A UN-backed peace agreement in 2000 awarded the disputed border territories to Eritrea, but the deal was never implemented.
The countries have skirmished since then in one of Africa’s longest-running conflicts.
The weekend agreement between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Isaias Afwerki now paves the way for cooperation and engagements between the two nations.
The resumption of the Ethiopian Airlines flights to Asmara is one such.
