Thousands of people from both countries watched one ceremony in Zalambessa, an Ethiopian border town that was reduced to rubble soon after hostilities between the neighbors broke out in 1998. The war over their border and other issues killed an estimated 80,000 people before fighting between Eritrea and Ethiopia ended in 2000 in a contested peace deal. Ever since, landlocked Ethiopia has made it a priority to reopen roads connecting it to Eritrea, which has ports on the Red Sea. Eritrea and Ethiopia share a border that stretches for more than 1,000 km (620 miles), but there were no details of other border openings on Tuesday. Eritrea reopened its embassy in Ethiopia in July, and Ethiopia reciprocated last week.

Source: Ethiopian News September 11, 2018 06:18 UTC