Ethiopia PM Makes First Visit to Eritrea Since Peace Deal

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2018-09-06

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed traveled to Eritrea on Wednesday, his first visit since the Horn of Africa neighbors ended a 20-year state of war in July.

Eritrea's information minister, Yemane Meskel, said on Twitter that Abiy flew into the port city of Assab and was greeted by President Isaias Afwerki. They later went to the capital, Asmara.

VOA's Horn of Africa service reports Abiy also visited Massawa, where the first Ethiopian vessel to dock at an Eritrean port in many years was loading Eritrean mining products.

The Ethiopian prime minister is making a two-day stop in Eritrea while traveling home from the China-Africa summit in Beijing.

Somalian President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed also visited Asmara to take part in a three-way summit with Abiy and Afwerki.

Ethiopia and Eritrea have seen rapidly warming ties since Ethiopia agreed to drop territorial claims that sparked a war in the late 1990s.

Ethiopia is to officially reopen its embassy in Asmara on Thursday.

Source: Voice of America

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