Ethiopia, Eritrea Sign Joint Declaration of Peace

The leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea have signed an agreement that formally ends one of one of Africa’s longest, most intractable conflicts.

Photos of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki signing the historic agreement in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, were posted on Twitter Monday by Yemane Meskel, Eritrea’s minister of information.

Meskel wrote that the “state of war that existed between the two countries has come to an end. A new era of peace & friendship has been ushered.”

He also said that trade, transport and telecommunication ties between the East African neighbors will be resumed.

Monday’s signing caps a new and sudden flurry of peace overtures between Prime Minister Ahmed and President Afwerki, who engaged in a historic embrace Sunday when Ahmed arrived Sunday at Asmara’s airport.

It began when Ahmed announced last month that Addis Ababa would finally honor a deal signed in 2000 to end a two-year border war. The war killed an estimated 70,000 people.

Ethiopia had long refused to accept the terms of the deal, which included withdrawing from the border town of Badme.

Eritrea, a former province of Ethiopia, broke away in 1993.