Ethiopia accepts peace deal with longtime rival Eritrea
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopia has announced it will fully accept the terms of a peace agreement with neighbouring Eritrea in a major step toward calming deadly tensions with its decades-long rival.
The development Tuesday night came as the ruling party also announced that the East African nation, one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, will open up parts of state-owned enterprises in sectors such as energy, aviation and telecoms to private investment.
The news came just hours after Ethiopia lifted a state of emergency in what had been the most dramatic reform yet under new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has promised change after more than two years of deadly anti-government protests demanding greater freedoms in Africa’s second most populous country.
But it is the prospect of peace with reclusive Eritrea that has come as the latest, and largest, surprise.