Ethiopia/Eritrea: Peace agreement brings hope

As reported by Al-Jazeera on 9 July 2018, Ethiopia and Eritrea have signed a peace treaty, "officially ending decades of diplomatic and armed strife". In 1998, a bitter two-year war erupted between the two countries in which more than 70,000 people lost their lives and families were separated. Now 20 years on, the two countries will resume economic and diplomatic cooperation, Ethiopia Airlines will start flying to Asmara and Ethiopia will begin using Assab port again. Yonas Dembele, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "Saying this is historic and unexpected news is no exaggeration. The two countries have been accusing each other for years for not accepting the borders set out by an international border commission and have been engaged in a proxy war in Somalia. This deal, as many call it, brings hope and it is touching to see so many families separated by the war reunite for the first time after nearly 20 years. Yet, it is a legitimate question to ask: What does this mean for Christians who have been suffering for decades in Eritrean prisons? There has been no indication that hundreds of Christians currently in prison might soon be released. Any peace agreement that does not take human rights and freedom of religion as its core principle, will not be sustainable."