Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki raise an Eritrean flag at the Eritrean Embassy reopened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, on July 16, 2018. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

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.