Leaders of Ethiopia, Eritrea sign accord in Saudi Arabia

https://www.apnews.com/5d7733c32f2443af8fb91fea5edbde98/Leaders-of-Ethiopia,-Eritrea-sign-accord-in-Saudi-Arabia

Written by Jon Gambrell of the Associate Press, this article is concerning the recent accord between Eritrea and Ethiopia. In what is being called the, “Jeddah Agreement”, the leaders of Eritrea and Ethiopia met in Saudi Arabia to sign an accord that seeks to mitigate tensions between the two nations, who have had rocky relations following a series of border-land disputes in the last 20 years. Eritrea secured their independence in 1993 from Ethiopia, and from 1998 to 2000 engaged in a series of border skirmishes with Ethiopia, damaging relations further. The details of the recent accord have not yet been discussed with the public, but the deal is indicative of an easing of hostilities between the two countries. Saudi Arabia’s role in this is not to be understated, as the Saudi King Salman has taken a growing interest in the affairs of East African nations in an effort to secure allies that could aid in bolstering Saudi Arabia’s dominance in the Red Sea region. From a geopolitical perspective, Saudi Arabia is at odds with Yemen and is trying to curb the United Arab Emirates growing power, which leads to Saudi Arabia encouraging cooperation between East African states in an attempt to build stronger partnerships with nations that can serve as allies in any confrontations with Yemen or the United Arab Emirates. From an idealistic prospective, cooperation between countries like Ethiopia and Eritrea is beneficial in the long term for East Africa, as the respective nations can worry less about external conflict, and more-so on improving the standard of living and infrastructure for the betterment of their citizens. Although this accord is symbolically a stride towards peace, it remains unclear what exactly the two nations agreed upon and if they can be trusted to remain civil when engaging with each other. Optimists see the accord as a significant marker of a warming of relations, but time will inevitably tell if the meeting was purely symbolism or an actual step towards creating peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Kevin Phelan