The Ethiopia-Eritrea talks are being hailed as historic for the neighbors that went to war 20 years ago. Political commentators say, despite a thaw in the "frozen border” war, mutual distrust runs long and deep.
Image: Prime Minister Office/Fitsum Arega
Advertisement
A high level Eritrean delegation landed in the Ethiopian capital on Tuesday. Ethiopia's newly-elected Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy received Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh and advisor to President Isaias Afwerki, Yemane Gebreab, at the airport.
There was a red carpet, rose garlands for the rare visitors, banners saying welcome in the languages of the two countries, music and smiles all round.
"The relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea is about more than the border. When we make peace, it will benefit East Africa," Meles Alem, Ethiopia's foreign affairs spokesman said at the airport.
Little more has been said by either side since.
Eritrea-Ethiopia border conflict erupted in 1998.
Unexpected olive branch
Eritrea last week agreed to the visit after a surprise invitation from Abiy, who has been making overtures of peace to Ethiopia's one time enemy, a closed and authoritarian state. Since he came to office in April, he has introduced a broad series of domestic reforms and unexpectedly pledged to honor the terms of the peace deal with Asmara that was meant to end the war that broke out between them in 1998.
Afwerki said the Eritrean delegation to Addis would "gauge current developments directly and in depth" to plan further steps.
The talks – seen as a major step to ending one of Africa's longest border conflicts – comes days after a blast at a rally attended by Abiy killed at least two people and injured dozens.
Political commentators say the meeting in Addis Ababa is a breakthrough moment for the two countries, but it is only a first step toward peace.
Ethiopia anxious for change
"We don't know what they are going to be negotiating. We don't know what their agenda is. At the moment, outsiders like me don't have a sense of what is on the table and what the agenda is, but the mere fact that this delegation is turning up in Addis Ababa is incredibly important and definitely takes the relationship between these two countries in a positive direction," Michela Wrong, an expert on Eritrean politics, told DW.
"We have to remember that the last Eritrean delegation that visited Addis Ababa went there in 1998 when fighting had just broken out on the border at Badme. They went there to try and negotiate and deal with the problems that led to that clash and then they snuck away very, very quietly and very unexpectedly,” she said.
There have been no talks since, with occasional skirmishes along the border.
Ethiopia and Abiy are seen to be anxious to bring about change. Abey is under political pressure at home with opposition to the government's record and diplomatic pressure from the European Union and Washington over the standoff with its neighbor, Wrong explained.
Isaias Afwerki has been president of Eritrea since 1993.Image: Eritrea Minister of Information/Y.G. Meskel
Peace could lead to Eritrean reforms
"This endless confrontation with two neighbors in the Horn of Africa that everyone made the entire Horn of Africa extremely unstable and extremely volatile. There are also solid commercial and economic reasons to tackle the problem between the two countries because as long as you have that border un-demarcated and two armies facing each other along that 1,000-kilometer (621 miles) border, you can't have trade,” she said.
Political analysts suggest the border conflict with Ethiopia is what has kept Afwerki at the helm of government in Asmara.
The advent of peace may ultimately mean pressure for reform on the Eritrean leader. Eritreans may press for an end to open-ended military conscription or to have the multi-party constitution enacted or question the absence of political parties or a free press.
Enormous hurdles
"Of course there are enormous hurdles to be overcome — the main one being distrust because you can't have a confrontation for that length of time and not be in a situation where both sides really regard each other with great suspicion," said Martin Plaut, an expert on the Horn of Africa region.
So the first thing that has to be established is trust. Here, the African Union can play a considerable role because they were one of the observers, the guarantors, of the Algiers peace agreement and they really have a responsibility to try and make sure that this initiative works," Plaut told DW.
Uschi Eid of the German Africa Foundation said that on a political level, the first visit should also signal further talks. "The talks are not solved with a single visit. The door has been opened and but still other steps are urgently required,” Eid told DW.
Aryam Abraha and Zipporah Nyambura contributed to this report.
Ethiopia welcomes its enemy in open door strategy
Every day displaced Eritreans cross the perilous border to seek asylum in enemy territory—but Ethiopia appears only too happy to accommodate.
Image: DW/J. Jeffery
Drifting across the desert
"It took us four days traveling from Asmara," a 31-year-old Eritrean man says about the trek from the Eritrean capital, 80 kilometres north of the border, after arriving in Ethiopia. "We travelled for 10 hours each night, sleeping in the desert during the day." With him are another three men, three women, six girls and four small boys.
Image: DW/J. Jeffery
No turning back
"Living conditions in Eritrea are more dangerous than crossing the border," says a 39-year-old Eritrean soldier - now a deserter after crossing into Ethiopia - who served 20 years in the military. After being collected by Ethiopian soldiers patrolling the border, Eritreans are sent to a registration center to begin the process to claim asylum in Ethiopia.
Image: DW/J. Jeffery
Camp life
New arrivals are allocated to one of four refugee camps in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. The Hitsats camp is the newest and largest, sheltering around 11,000 refugees, with 80 percent under 35 years of age. "Even if they are seeking political asylum, there will be an economic side to it as they are young and need to generate income to live their lives," says camp coordinator Haftam Telemickael.
Image: DW/J. Jeffery
Making the most of the situation
The camp’s infrastructure is simple but neat. There’s little rubbish lying around, and people make their accommodation feel as homely as possible. "When I drink a cup of coffee among the flowers it feels good," says John, 40, standing in the small garden full of flowers around his Hitsats camp home that he shares with his 10-year-old daughter. His wife is in America.
Image: DW/J. Jeffery
Hard-fought gains
"The Eritrean people are good," says Luel Abera, an Ethiopian official who helps coordinate refugee arrivals before they move to a camp. "They fought for independence for 30 years. But from day one, [Eritrean President] Isaias [Afwerki] has ruled the country without caring about his people’s interests." Isaias has ruled Eritrea for more than 25 years.
Image: DW/J. Jeffery
Constant influx
"I don’t want to talk about why we crossed," says 18-year-old Haimanot who runs a small shack in Hitsats that recharges mobiles for one Ethiopian birr (0.04 euro) a charge. In February 2017, 3,367 Eritrean refugees arrived in Ethiopia, according to Ethiopia’s refugee agency. Around 165,000 Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers reside in Ethiopia, according to the UN.
Image: DW/J. Jeffery
Sleeping more easily
"In Sudan there are more problems, we can sleep peacefully here," says Ariam, 32, who came to Hitsat four years ago with her two children after spending four years in a refugee camp in Sudan. Refugees claim the Eritrean military conducts raids in Sudan to capture Eritreans. Ethiopia’s border with Eritrea is much more heavily guarded against incursions.
Image: DW/J. Jeffery
Generosity or strategy?
"Ethiopia's response is to manage the gate, and figure out how it can benefit from these inevitable flows of people," says refugee analyst Jennifer Riggan. More money is also spent hosting refugees nowadays due to international efforts to stop secondary migration to Europe. It may also be a way for Ethiopia to bolster its international reputation after controversy about recent protests.
Image: DW/J. Jeffery
Comradeship trumps hate
Military positions from the 1998-2000 war between Ethiopia and Eritrea still stand alongside today’s border. All the while both governments accuse one of plotting against the other. But Ethiopia appears willing to differentiate with ordinary Eritreans. "We are the same people, we share the same blood, even the same grandfathers," says Estifanos Gebremedhin with Ethiopia’s refugee agency.
Image: DW/J. Jeffery
Moving away
"My children are in America but there is no point my going—I am an old man now," says 74-year-old Tesfaye in Shimelba, Tigray’s first Eritrean refugee camp which opened in 2004. Thousands more Eritreans live in Ethiopias cities outside the camps. Many others decide to leave Ethiopia and migrate onward, some legally, like Tesfaye’s children, many more illegally, often dying trying.
Image: DW/J. Jeffery
Shared past not forgotten
"The Ethiopian soldiers who found us were like brothers to us," says 22-year-old mother-of-two Yordanos. Eritrea was Ethiopia's most northern region before a referendum officially giving it independence in 1993 made Tigray the most northern. Hence many Eritreans who cross the border share the same language, Tigrinya, and the same Orthodox religion and culture as Tigray’s inhabitants.
