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WORLD NEWS Monday 17 SepteMber 2018

Leaders of Ethiopia, Eritrea

sign accord in Saudi Arabia

By JON GAMBRELL significant developments in the kingdom’s highest civil-
Associated Press the relations between the ian honor. They earlier won
DUBAI, United Arab Emir- two nations in all fields,” the similar honors in the UAE.
ates (AP) — Leaders from statement added. Landlocked Ethiopia
Ethiopia and Eritrea signed Saudi King Salman and his fought a bloody war with
a peace agreement on assertive 33-year-old son, Eritrea from 1998 to 2000
Sunday during a summit Crown Prince Mohammed over a border dispute that
in Saudi Arabia, yet an- bin Salman, were on hand killed tens of thousands of
other sign of warming ties for the summit in the Red people. The conflict ended
between two nations that Sea port city of Jiddah. in an uneasy peace with Er-
have face decades of war Also attending was Emi- itrea, which earlier fought a
and unease. rati Foreign Minister Sheikh decades-long war of inde-
Terms of the agreement Abdullah bin Zayed Al Na- pendence from Ethiopia.
signed by Ethiopian Prime hyan and United Nations Yet that suddenly changed
Minister Abiy Ahmed and Secretary-General Antonio with the election of Abiy as
Eritrean President Isaias Af- Guterres. prime minister. A whirlwind
werki weren’t immediately “There is a wind of hope of talks suddenly ended
clear. Ethiopia’s Foreign blowing in the Horn of Af- the long conflict between
Ministry described it as a rica,” Guterres told journal- the two nations in July, with In this photograph released by the state-run Saudi Press Agency,
“seven-point agreement” ists after the signing. “It is not telephone calls and flights Saudi King Salman, center, receives Eritrean President Isaias
while Eritrea offered no de- only the peace between suddenly possible between Afwerki, left, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, right, in
tails. Ethiopia and Eritrea — it is the two nations. Jiddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018.
Saudi authorities did not re- the fact that tomorrow and It was particularly surpris- Associated Press
spond to specific questions the day after tomorrow ing for Eritrea, a closed-off
about the accord, which we will have, here in Saudi nation of 5 million people
earlier had been described Arabia, the president of Dji- ruled by Isaias since 1993.
as being a further endorse- bouti and the president of Eritrea’s system of compul-
ment of a historic deal Eritrea — two countries that sory conscription that led
reached between the two have also been at odds thousands of Eritreans to
nations in July. with each other.” flee toward Europe, Israel
“The peace deal resulted In September, an Ethiopi- and elsewhere. Ethiopia is
in restoration of normal an-mediated effort saw re- home to 105 million people.
relations between the lations normalize between The signing ceremony Sun-
countries, on the basis of Eritrea and Djibouti after day in Saudi Arabia also
the close bonds of geog- a long border dispute. Be- served as a nod to the
raphy, history and culture tween 2010 and 2017 Qa- growing important Gulf
between the two nations tar attempted to mediate Arab nations put on East Af-
and their peoples,” Saudi a settlement but that effort rica amid the Saudi-led war
Arabia said in a statement failed. Qatar in June 2017 in Yemen. The United Arab
Sunday, calling the accord withdrew its 450 peace- Emirates, also believed to
the “Jiddah Agreement.” keeping troops from the have played a part in talks
“The kingdom of Saudi Eritrean-Djiboutian border between Ethiopia and Er-
Arabia praised the lead- after being isolated by Sau- itrea, has been building up
ers of Ethiopia and Eritrea di Arabia, the UAE and two a military presence in the
for exercising leadership other Arab nations as part Eritrean port city of Assab.
and courage to restore the of a diplomatic dispute. The strategic Bab al-
brotherly relations between King Salman also awarded Mandeb Strait, which sits
the two countries, thus the Ethiopian and Eritrean off Eritrea and neighboring
forming the foundation for leaders with the Order of Djibouti, links the Red Sea
a new phase that will bring Abdulaziz Al Saud Medal, and the Suez Canal with
the Gulf of Aden and ulti-
mately the Indian Ocean.
Dozens of commercial
ships transit the route, some
16-kilometers (10-miles)
wide at its narrowest point,
every day.q