The border between Ethiopia and Eritrea had been closed since 1998. After two decades of conflict and around 80,000 deaths, the border crossings have been reopened.
Ethiopia and Eritrea have taken a new step in the peace process launched last July, after two decades of conflict. On Tuesday 11 September, the two African nations reopened their land border.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki took part in the official ceremony. It was held first in the south-east of the border line, in the towns of Bure and Sebay Sima, and then in the north-west, at Zalambessa and Serha.
The crossings had been closed in 1998, when the war between the two countries — which would claim 80,000 lives — had just broken out. What set Ethiopia and Eritrea back on the path to peace was the opening made by Abiy Ahmed in June, when he ordered the release of numerous political opponents, directed that the state of emergency be brought to an end and introduced sweeping economic reforms. Above all, however, he agreed to honour a ruling issued in 2002 by a territorial commission under the auspices of the United Nations, which awarded Eritrea a territory disputed between the two sides.
It was in this very area that the two leaders came together, on the occasion of the Ethiopian New Year celebrations. At Zalambessa, in a symbolic gesture, soldiers from both nations removed the sandbags blocking the crossing, greeted one another and danced together. The images were broadcast live by Ethiopian national television.
"By working together rather than destroying each other, by helping one another rather than sabotaging each other, we will be able to move forward," said the president of the Tigray border region. "I hope we will be able to build a model of peace, of brotherhood and of cooperation in the years ahead," he added.
For Ethiopia in particular, the reopening of the border is far more than a symbol. The nation had lost its strategic access to the Red Sea. Now, through the use of the Eritrean ports of Assab and Massawa, imports and exports stand to develop considerably.
