ADDIS ABABA, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Eritrea re-opened its embassy in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, on Monday after a 20-year absence.
In a short ceremony held under tight security, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed raised the flag of the Eritrean mission to Ethiopia in the presence of Ethiopian and Eritrean high officials.
Afwerki, who re-opened the embassy before leaving for his country on Monday morning, had paid a three-day state visit to Ethiopia.
He attended a music concert on Sunday held to honor the two countries' reconciliation.
The concert and the re-opening of Eritrean embassy to Ethiopia came at the end of fast-moving developments that have seen the bitter rivals that fought a bloody border war from 1998 to 2000, which left 70,000 dead from both sides, turn into potential close allies.
The war was ended by a December 2000 Algiers peace agreement, but it left the two countries in a state of bitter armed standoff.
Ethiopian prime minister Ahmed visited Eritrea's capital, Asmara, last weekend, welcomed by Afwerki, as thousands of Eritreans lined the streets to greet him.
The exchange of visits by Afwerki and Ahmed came after the Executive Committee of the ruling Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front decided on June 5 to fully accept the Algiers peace agreement.
