Eritrea’s Foreign Minister Osman Sale, center-right, is welcomed by Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, center-left, upon the Eritrean delegation’s arrival at the airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tuesday, June 26, 2018. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Eritrean officials say that the leaders of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia are to meet in Eritrea’s capital Asmara, furthering the diplomatic thaw in the strategic Horn of Africa region.
Eritrea’s Minister of Information Yemane Gebremeskel tweeted that President Isias Afwerki, Ethiopia’s Prime Minster Abiy Ahmed and Somalia’s President Mohammed Abdullahi Mohamed will meet in Asmara Wednesday.
By bringing together the leaders of former arch-foes in a summit Wednesday, Eritrea is building newly friendly relations with neighbors Ethiopia and Somalia.
Ethiopia’s reformist leader Abiy since coming to power in April has succeeded in forging better relations with Eritrea. The leaders of the two countries have since visited each other’s capitals in recent weeks and opened to the public the formerly heavily militarized border areas.
