After 25 years – Historic speech of Presedant Isayas and P. M. Abiy
Eritrean President Arrives in Ethiopia Ahead of Embassy Opening
Ethiopia has welcomed Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki for his first visit in 22 years. The visit shores up a remarkable improvement in relations after a generation of mutual mistrust and enmity.
Afwerki, Eritrea’s president throughout its 25 years of independence, arrived in Ethiopia on Saturday – less than a week after the two countries declared the official end to a two-decade-old border war.
He was greeted upon landing in the capital Addis Ababa by reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who himself made a historic visit last weekend to Eritrea.
Chief of staff to Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Fitsum Arega, thanked Isaias “for honoring us with a visit” in a statement.
“I am really happy today. I am very happy that I can reconnect with my brothers and old friends,” the man said. “From now on there is no waiting for Facebook or a telephone call, rather we can meet each other in person. I am very happy that now we can go there by car.”
The 72-year-old Afwerki last visited Ethiopia in 1996, after Eritrea gained independence from its southern neighbor in 1993.