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Eritrean President Vows to 'Bolster Cooperation' With Ethiopia

AFP

   ADDIS ABABA - Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki promised Thursday to
   boost cooperation with Ethiopia on the last day of his two-day visit
   that came as the peace process was seen as having lost momentum.

   Isaias flew to Addis Ababa on Wednesday for his first meeting with the
   Ethiopian prime minister since Abiy Ahmed won the 2019 Nobel Peace
   Prize for initiating a thaw between the countries which fought a border
   war in 1998-2000.

   That conflict left an estimated 80,000 dead before a stalemate took
   hold and which was only resolved by Abiy's unexpected outreach to
   Isaias.

   Isaias expressed gratitude Thursday for the hospitality accorded to his
   delegation during the visit.

   He pledged to work with "vigour to recoup lost opportunities by three
   generations to bolster (a) new chapter of cooperation between the two
   countries,"according to a tweet by Eritrea's communications minister,
   Yemane Meskel.

   Isaias and Abiy on Thursday laid the cornerstone of the future Eritrean
   embassy in Addis Ababa.

   After the two leaders first met and embraced on the tarmac in Asmara,
   the Eritrean capital, last year, they reopened embassies, resumed
   flights and held a series of meetings across the region.

   But the initial optimism fueled by these gestures faded, and citizens
   of both countries complain that they are still waiting for meaningful
   change.

   During the Nobel award ceremony in Oslo earlier this month, Norwegian
   Nobel Committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen noted that the peace
   process "seems to be at a standstill,"with border crossings closed and
   little apparent progress on border demarcation efforts.

   She said the committee hoped the Nobel would "spur the parties to
   further implementation of the peace treaties."

   This visit was the first time the two leaders have met in person since
   July.