Reuters – Ethiopia, Eritrea reopen border points for first time in 20 years – 11 September
- The reopening of crossing points at the Ethiopia-Eritrea border is widely reported in international media as a further development in the “stunning reconciliation” between the two countries.
- “As of today, Ethiopia’s defense forces (along the border with Eritrea) will be gathered to camps and ease tension that was often extreme,” said Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. “The same will be done from the Eritrean side.”
- Thousands of people from both countries watched one border opening ceremony in Zalambessa, an Ethiopian border town that was reduced to rubble soon after hostilities between the neighbors started in 1998. The two leaders opened another frontier crossing at Bure, Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Meskel said in a tweet.
- The Debay Sima – Bure crossing leads to the port of Assab in Eritrea’s east, while its Massawa port is directly north of the Serha – Zalambessa connection. Ethiopia, a rising economic power with 100 million people, had been almost entirely dependent on tiny neighbor Djibouti for access to the Red Sea since 1998.
The Local [Switzerland]: UN condemns Switzerland over deportation of Eritrean torture victim – 11 September
- Swiss outlet The Local reports that the United Nations has taken Switzerland to task for failing to properly investigate the situation of a torture survivor from Eritrea before deporting him to Italy.
- The Eritrean applied for asylum in Switzerland in 2015 but the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) sent the man back to Italy under the Dublin Regulation.
- According to EU rules enshrined in the Dublin Regulation, applications for asylum should be processed in the first EU country in which asylum seekers arrive.
- Despite two appeals, the Federal Administrative Court of Switzerland upheld the SEM’s decision to deport the man.
- But in a new ruling, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) said Swiss immigration authorities had not properly investigated the situation and that had failed to respect human rights.
Al Jazeera: Eritrea consolidates Horn of Africa peace – 11 September
- Eritrea and Djibouti signed a new peace agreement on September 6, effectively ending a decade-long conflict between the two countries.
- The peace initiative came sooner than many had thought – signalling a new dawn in relations among nations in the conflict-prone Horn of Africa.
- Martin Plaut, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, is calling for sustained agreements.
- “After so many years there must be a residue of distrust. Shaking hands is one thing, laying a firm foundation for ending confrontation is another,” Plaut said.
- “If this – and the Eritrea-Ethiopia border resolution – are built on and the underlying problems eliminated then the people of the Horn of Africa will be much closer to peace,” Plaut said.
Eritrea Hub: Former Eritrean minister of finance challenges Isaias Afwerki to step down – 11 September
- Eritrea Hub reports on the anticipation surrounding news that the Eritrean former Finance Minister Berhane Abrehe will publish a two-part book criticising the rule of President Isaias Afwerki.
- Two days ago, Mr. Abrehe, who still lives in Asmara, released an audio message confirming his authorship of the book and reiterating his views on Isaias Afwerki and the general conditions of his country.
- Addressing Eritreans within the country and outside, he stated that the dire conditions they find themselves in because of Isaias’ repressive and dictatorial rule should change; and reminded them that only they can bring about that change.
- He further called on Isaias to stop, until proper National Assembly authorization is obtained, the ongoing non-transparent and haphazard diplomatic contacts, sanctioned by no authority but Isaias himself, and about which the Eritrean public has been kept in the dark, as well as the signing of hasty agreements that could potentially compromise Eritrea’s national strategic interests.
Africa News: Eritrea determined to recoup, rebuild lost opportunities – Afwerki – 10 September
- Eritrea will seek to move at a fast pace relative to development as it seeks to recoup decades of economic slowdown, its president Isaias Afwerki has said.
- The president was speaking in an interview with the Chinese global news outlet CGTN addressing predominantly the economic outlook of the country after normalization of relations with Ethiopia.
- “We have to recoup lost opportunities, it’s an opportunity lost or opportunity cost of the last twenty years and more, recouping and rebuilding, it’s a dual purpose crossroads to me, we have to recoup what we have lost.”
