Ethiopia submitted a request to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. António Guterres, this evening demanding end of the sanctions UN’s on Eritrea.
The reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia has submitted the request to Guterres, who is in Addis Ababa for the African Union- UN annual summit.
“Ethiopia and Eritrea made a historic breakthrough & agreed to end the state of war that lasted for two decades today. Following this, the same day Ethiopia officially submitted a request to the visiting UN Secretary General for the UN to lift sanctions it imposed on Eritrea,” twitted Fitsum Arega, PM Abiy’s chief of staff.
The UN adopted on December 23, 2009, imposed an arms embargo on Eritrea, travel bans on its leaders, and froze the assets of some of the country’s political and military officials after accusing the Eritrean government of aiding Al-Shabaab in Somalia.
It is recalled that Prime Minister has travelled to Asmara yesterday and met with President Isaias Afwerki. The two leaders signed this morning a declaration of peace and renewing friendship between the two nations.
Last year when the UN evaluation team came to Ethiopia to get the opinion of the country on Ethiopia and lift the sanction, Ethiopian government has urged the UN to sustain the sanction. As a result, it was in November 2017 that the UN has renewed the sanction on Eritrea.
The two countries who fought a bloody war from 1998-2000 have been at ‘no war, no peace’ situation for the past two decades. It was a few weeks ago that the reformist prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed has sent announced his government’s plan to accept and fully implement the UN mediated Algiers Agreement signed in December 2000 ending the war.
Speaking at the dinner last night in Asmara, Eritrea, Prime Minister Abiy has said that the two countries have agreed to open ports and their airlines for businesses as well as reopen their embassies. Following that announcement, the Ethiopian Airlines is set to start flying to Asmara after 20 years.
“While we celebrate this beautiful day in history, we wish the best of sustainable peace, friendship and prosperity to both the Eritrean and Ethiopian peoples. We are looking forward not only to connect Eritrea with Ethiopia but also to connect Eritrea with more than 114 international destinations in 5 continents with modern airplanes,” Ethiopian Airlines said.
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