How to make Eritrea, Africa’s North Korea, less horrible
Peace gives Eritrea a chance to open up
SOMETHING good is happening in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa. Eritrea and Ethiopia are making peace. It is as if North and South Korea made friends, not just with platitudes at a summit but with actions on the ground. In recent weeks Ethiopia’s new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, and Eritrea’s dictator, Isaias Afwerki, have signed a peace deal and reopened telephone and air links between their two countries. On July 30th Eritrea agreed to restore diplomatic relations with Somalia; there is talk of mending ties with neighbouring Djibouti, too.
It is too soon to say what all this means, but the omens in Ethiopia are good. As well as pursuing peace, its new leader has lifted a state of emergency, welcomed back exiled dissidents, freed thousands of political prisoners and vowed to privatise lumbering state-owned enterprises. The big question-mark hangs over Eritrea, the North Korea of Africa.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline "How to make Eritrea less horrible"
From the August 4th 2018 edition
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