Finally peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia !!!
 

Hi.

Guess this news is well worth a post on this board, since a couple of days Ethiopia and Eritrea are offically at peace !!!

The border conflict and state of war between them lasted over 20 years and I hope this landmark peace agreement will bring both of them prosperity and stabiltiy for the future.

I don´t have to mention what good news this is also for overlanders, the Ethiopian/Eritrean border remained closed since 1998.

We have to wait what will follow but a new route from Sudan through Eritrea to Ethiopia might be possible in the next years.


I am particulary happy as my flight to Asmara is in 2 month ! :thumbup1:





https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-44764597






Cheers,
Chris

No word yet about what the new "peace agreement" might mean for tourists. Realistically, no solid sense of whether these two leaders really mean it, and will continue to mean it next year or next decade. We'll see.

I visited back and forth between Ethiopia and Eritrea during the last "peace agreement" in the mid-90s. At that time, the Eritrea government was considered progressive and proud, having won a long civil war while declining the sort of manipulative Western aid which came with layer after layer of strings attached. Passage across the border was sometimes problematic, but I could travel wherever I wanted, talk to whomever I pleased (and people did talk freely), and enjoyed the widespread sense of optimism among the populace.

All of which is to say that it seems wise to wait before counting chickens. In Eritrea, all that optimism and progressiveness lasted just a couple of years before remarkable, crushing, reactionary oppression took hold. At ground level lots of grievances remain to be resolved, and there's little historical evidence of willingness to do so.

At the same time, a wonderful area of the world, with lots to see, do and contemplate. Here's hoping it works better this round than the last.

Mark