Abiy, Isaias and Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed have signed an agreement to "build close political, economic, social, cultural and security ties". "Ethiopia's Prime Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed and Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki reopened the embassy in a brief ceremony," Ethiopia's state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported on Thursday. After a bloody, decades-long independence struggle, Eritrea voted in 1993 to separate, rendering Ethiopia landlocked. Elevated to the premiership in April, Abiy announced in June that Ethiopia would hand back the disputed areas including the flashpoint town of Badme where the first shots of the border war were fired. During his visit this week, Abiy also inspected the road leading from Assab, the other major Eritrean port, to the Ethiopian border, his chief of staff Fitsum Arega tweeted.

Source: Ethiopian News September 06, 2018 09:33 UTC