PM Abiy Ahmed Ali welcomed Eritrea delegates in Addis Ababa

The delegation of Eritrean government sent by President Isaias Afwerki has arrived Addis Ababa this morning to start negotiations, raising hopes of a breakthrough in one of Africa’s most intractable military stand-offs.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed welcomed the delegation at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Abiy who said this month that he is ready to honour all the terms of a peace deal that ended the countries’ 1998-2000 conflict – suggesting he might be willing to settle a festering row over the position of their border.

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said last week he welcomed what he called Ethiopia’s “positive messages” and decided to send his first official delegation to the government in Addis Ababa in two decades.

The Eritrean delegation was made up of presidential adviser Yemane Gebreab, Foreign Minister Osman Saleh and the envoy to the African Union, the state-owned Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation said.

Eritrea fought a border war with its larger neighbour that killed about 80,000 people, but both sides remain at odds over the status of the frontier town of Badme. The border has remained militarized ever since.

Abiy, who was at a rally hit by a grenade attack on Saturday, has made a series of other startling announcements since he took office in April, including plans for the partial privatization of the state-run telecoms monopoly and state-owned Ethiopian Airlines.

Eritrea and Ethiopia broke off diplomatic relations two decades ago, although Asmara has a permanent delegation in Addis Ababa representing it at the African Union, whose headquarters are in the Ethiopian capital.

No Eritrean representatives have been part of an official visit for talks with the Ethiopian government since at least 1998.

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