Political scientists, who admonish people to avoid recourse to the word, never, while discussing temporal and mundane issues, seem to have a point. Politics is about permanent interests, not permanent foes or friends. This is what Eritrea and Ethiopia are currently proving on the international scene.
Two weeks ago, the two sister-nations signed a final peace accord ending over twenty years of belligerence between them. The fighting started after the erstwhile part of Northern Ethiopia voted in a referendum to become the sovereign state of Eritrea in 1993. In the new armistice, the leaders of the two countries agreed to sheathe their swords permanently.
Thanks to the new leadership in Ethiopia under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the two Horn of Africa nations denounced the factors and intrigues that held their countries hostage for too long and decided to forge closer ties. The first fall-out from the peace deal is vintage aviation, the historic launch of Ethiopian Airlines’ direct flight from Addis Ababa to Asmara.
The latest development in aviation means that the plight of Eritrean nationals who carried out commercial dealings in Ethiopia but used to travel back to their country via the Sudanese airport in Khartoum is now over.
The Eritrean leader, Issayas Afewerki, who referred to the period of enmity in the Horn of Africa as years of blight and confusion, described the direct air link between the sister-nations as long overdue. He hailed the youthful disposition of Prime Minister Ahmed and his courage in summoning the political will to push through the aviation deal. The management of Ethiopian Airlines has announced that the direct flight to Asmara would be operated three times every week for now.
