Promised trade pacts failed to materialize, and there was little concrete cooperation, the Ethiopian officials said. Unusually, the meetings were mostly one-on-one, without aides or note-takers, two former Ethiopian officials said. Crowds thronged the streets when Isaias visited the ancient Amhara city of Gondar in November 2018, chanting, “Isaias, Isaias, Isaias!”Later, a troupe of Eritrean singers and dancers visited Amhara. Ethiopian military cargo planes began to make clandestine flights at night to bases in Eritrea, said a senior Ethiopian official. Abiy’s top aides and military officials privately debated the merits of a war in Tigray, the former official said.

Source: Ethiopian News December 15, 2021 18:18 UTC