Eritrea president visits Ethiopia a week after hosting Somalia's Farmajo

ADDIS ABABA - Eritrea President Isaias Afwerki has on Monday morning embarked on a three-day working visit in neighboring Ethiopia, on a trip that comes barely a week after hosting Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, as he seeks to strengthen bilateral ties in the Horn of Africa.

For the last two years, Isaias Afwerki has taken the mantle of the elderly statesman from the region and has often focused on improving trade ties among the countries within the Horn of Africa, decades after frosty relationships that almost tore them apart.

Yemane Meskel, the Minister for Information, said the Eritrea leader will be in Addis Ababa for three days. The minister further said that among those in the delegation of the president include Foreign Minister Osman Saleh and Presidential Adviser Yemane Ghebreab.

The Eritrea leader was invited by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 ostensibly for the role he played in solving a border crisis with Eritrea. Ahmed was installed as Ethiopian PM in 2018 and is widely credited for improving the democratization space in Ethiopia.

"On the invitation of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, President Isaias Afwerki departed to Ethiopia this morning for a three-day working visit," Meskel said. "The Presidential delegation includes Foreign Minister Osman Saleh and Presidential Adviser Yemane Ghebreab."

At Addis Ababa, the two leaders have expected the hold bilateral talks that will focus on regional integration. Early this year, Ahmed visited Eritrea where he joined Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo for the signing of a Tripartite agreement among the three countries.

"The two Heads of State will hold extensive consultations on further enhancement of bilateral ties as well as the consolidation of regional cooperation. As it will be recalled, PM Abiy Ahmed had paid a similar working visit to Eritrea last August," he noted.

For almost 20 years, Ethiopia and Eritrea were involved in a bitter border row and no leader from either side ever visited respective countries. The norm was rectified when Abiy Ahmed took over in 2018, changing the dynamics of the Horn of Africa politics, which are at times termed as frosty and volatile.

When Farmajo visited Asmara early this month, Meskel said the two leaders focused on the Tripartite agreement that Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia had signed. Farmajo was in Asmara for two consecutive days.

"The two leaders further agreed to re-double ongoing efforts for regional integration on the basis of the Tri-Partite Agreement signed subsequently between Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. The talks between the two sides will continue tomorrow."

GAROWE ONLINE