Ethiopians and Eritreans along the two countries’ shared border have misgivings about the recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize to reformist prime minister Abiy Amhed. Ethiopia’s charismatic leader was given the prestigious prize earlier this month, partly for his role in signing a peace deal with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in July last year.
The peace deal effectively ended decades of hostilities, and unleashed a flurry of activities including resumption of direct flights, re-connecting telephone lines, re-establishment of diplomatic presence in the two countries and re-opening the borders.
As a human being I don’t accept this Nobel prize.We don’t see the peace. Abiy and Isaias, they haven’t brought it.
However, hardly a year Hardly a year after Ethiopians and Eritreans celebrated the peace deal, Eritrea closed the border points at Serha-Zalambesa, Bure – Assab and Om Hajer-Humera, without giving its neighbour any official explanations. In this article, we look at the views of residents of the borders about Abiy’s Nobel win, informed by the progress or lack of it in implementing the peace deal.
When Abiy first reached out to Eritrea last year, he stunned observers by agreeing to accept a 2002 UN boundary ruling that Ethiopia had long rejected. The ruling would transfer some villages and towns from Ethiopian to Eritrean territory, and would split the ethnic Irob community in two. The demilitarisation of the border, especially on the Ethiopian side, is the main benefit of peace cited by most people in the region. It has permitted some Ethiopians to cross for weddings and funerals in Eritrea with little harassment from the security forces.
*The views of the above article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Africa Speaks 4 Africa or its editorial team.