Jeddah (UNA-OIC) – United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said on Sunday that the signing of a peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Saudi city of Jeddah was a historic event.
“The signature of the peace agreement between the President of Eritrea and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia is indeed a historic event,” Secretary General Guterres told a joint press conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir, following the signing
of the accord.
“We have seen a conflict that has lasted for decades ending, and that has a very important meaning in a world where we see, unfortunately, so many conflicts multiplying, and lasting forever,” he added.
The UN chief expressed his “deep appreciation” for the role played by Saudi Arabia, before paying tribute “on one hand to the courage, the vision, the wisdom of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia – who has had the capacity to overcome enormous resistance from the
past and open a new chapter in the history of his country – and also the way the President of Eritrea has promptly responded to his peace initiatives.”
The thaw in relations between the neighboring countries, who fought a bloody, unresolved war in the late 1990s, began in earnest in June, when Ethiopia’s newly-elected Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, made peace overtures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, which
have now come to fruition.
Guterres said that the agreement meant that “there is a wind of hope blowing in the Horn of Africa. It is not only the peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea – it is the fact that tomorrow and the day after tomorrow we will have, here in Saudi Arabia, the President
of Djibouti and the President of Eritrea – two countries that have also been at odds with each other.”
For his part, Foreign Minister Al-Jubeir said the agreement signed in Jeddah “is a historic milestone for the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea, and will contribute to strengthening security and stability in the region at large”. He added that the political courage
of the leaders of Eritrea and Ethiopia was a major reason to overcome the conflict and reach this historic solution.
AB/UNA-OIC
