Inside Africa: The Two-Year Anniversary of Peace in East Africa
Ghideon Musa Aron Visafric/Reuters
Ethiopia and Eritrea celebrated their peace agreement’s second anniversary earlier this month. It was a sudden and historic peace deal that earned the Ethopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed a Nobel Peace Prize and ended decades of conflict between the two countries. It is an “era of new friendship,” Yemane G. Meskel, the Eritrean Minister of Information, wrote in a Tweet sharing photographs of Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki standing together. Ahmed came to visit Eritrea on the anniversary, and other Tweets from Meskel show the two leaders visiting the sites of different agricultural and infrastructural projects. The hope is to “bolster the prevailing, all-rounded cooperation between the two countries.”
Two decades of war that killed thousands and dislocated many others ended with an olive branch from Ethiopia to Eritrea in July 2018. Eritrea had been established as an autonomous region within Ethiopia by the United Nations in 1952, but the movement for independence began a decade later, leading up to the country’s official independence in 1993. Still, the tensions remained and resurfaced in 1998 in the two-year border war with its Southern neighbor. Approximately 70,000 people were killed in that time and closed the borders. The Eritrea-Ethiopia peace deal in 2018 would restore ties between the two countries though, after Ethiopia acknowledged the international boundary determined by a commission under a peace agreement. The agreement was easy to make since most of it was already outlined in the 2000 peace agreement Ethiopia did not follow through on, resulting in a stalemate over an area. With the 2018 deal, trade would be moving again, communications open and families reunited after all that time apart because of the disputes.
As indicated by Meskel on Twitter, Ahmed and Afwerki have somewhat of a working relationship. They face a common enemy, at least. The Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front had fought with Eritrean during its struggle for independence, and half of Eritreans are ethnically Tigrayan - including Afwerki himself - but the border war in 1998 put Eritreans and TPLF on opposite sides. On the Ethiopia front, TPLF had dominated the country and apparently abused its power by restricting the press, religious freedoms, and political opposition. Apparently, working against TPLF was worth giving the town of Badme in Eritrea in the new peace deal.
In the two years since the deal was made, the agreement is said to continue making great strides forward according to Meskel. The Ethiopian Prime Minister and his wife were able to go on a diplomatic trip to Eritrea, something that was never done before the agreement. However, both countries are dealing with their own problems. Ahmed arrived in Eritrea while protests over the murder of a popular Ethiopian singer lead to the deaths of more than 160 people, civilians and law enforcement alike. Haacaaluu Hundeessa was a pop star from the Oromo ethnic group, the largest in Ethiopia, was shot and killed in the country’s capital, sparking protests and exasperating ethnic tensions. Despite this, the country has seen some positive growth recently with a boom in mining and agriculture and Ahmed’s push for political liberalization since being named Prime Minister for the fast growing East African country.
Eritrea does not see that same kind of growth and has been dubbed the “North Korea of Africa” by some. A one-party state and lack of freedoms have earned the country the not-so-popular nickname. The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks Eritrea at the top of its “world’s most censored country” list, above even North Korea, which is notorious for its state-run media meant to promote its own political messages. In Eritrea, independent news outlets were shut down in 2001, shortly after the border war, and is considered the “worst jailer of journalists in Sub-Saharan Africa.” More than a dozen journalists were arrested when the outlets were forced to shut down, but not much has not been a trial and it is rumored that some might have died in custody. Internet access is unreliable and often monitored. In May 2019, there was even a reported social media shut down prior to Eritrea’s Independence Day, further restricting freedom of speech and limiting access to outside communications for the citizens.
The Human Rights Watch has also noted its own violations within the country. Afwerki has been in power since 1993 when it became a free country. No elections have taken place since, so he and his party, the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, have been the sole leaders in the country for nearly 20 years. A democratic constitution for the country was ratified but never implemented. National service, a requirement during the decades of fighting with Ethiopia, was hoped to come to an end - or at least relaxed - following the peace deal. However, youths have been forced into military training before completing secondary school, many forced into national service after graduation as well. According to the Humans Rights Watch, Afwerki argues that the national service is still necessary because Eritrea should remain on “war-footing” because of the conflicts with Ethiopia. It also is argued to provide job opportunities in the floundering economy.
Thousands flee from Eritrea under the oppressive government, and youth in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe are saying “yiakl,” enough. Concerned not only for the journalists and other political prisoners still sitting in jail, they organized a movement to call out and criticize Afwerki for the continued forced enlistment and use of military camps known as Sawa.
A struggling post-war economy also contributes to Eritrea’s problems. The African Development Bank reported a drop in gross domestic product due to lack of demand for exports, which Eritrea depends on. This leaves the economy vulnerable to outside shocks and leads to the need to start investing internally on agriculture and infrastructure. The lifting of sanctions implemented by the United Nations during the hostilities between Eritrea and Ethiopia should also help the economy as the countries move forward together in their new era of peace.
