ADDIS ABABA, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia on Thursday appointed Redwan Hussein as its Ambassador to Eritrea.
In a press statement, the Spokesperson Office, Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), said the appointment of Hussein who was serving as Ethiopia's Ambassador to Ireland and was previously a Minister at Ethiopia Ministry of Youth and Sports is expected to see the further strengthening of diplomatic thaw with Eritrea.
Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bloody two-year border war from 1998-2000, that killed an estimated 70,000 people from both sides. The war was ended by a December 2000 Algiers peace agreement, but it left the two countries in a state of bitter armed standoff.
Earlier this month Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed paid a two-day state visit to Eritrea during which the two countries signed a peace declaration formally ending two decades of mutual hostility.
On Monday, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki re-opened the Eritrean embassy in Ethiopia at the end of a three days state visit to Addis Ababa, the first by Afwerki to Ethiopia in 22 years.
The visit by Afwerki and Ahmed to each other's countries comes in a month of fast moving events, ever since the Executive Committee of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) decided on June 5 to fully accept the Algiers peace agreement.
