Peace run accelerates diplomacy between Ethiopia and Eritrea

Tilahun Masresha, 79, felt young at heart after completing a 10-kilometer run in the first joint sporting event by the former bitter foes Ethiopia and Eritrea in 20 years.

Thousands of people from both countries participated in the reconciliation run, which was held in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. In July, the two neighbors started a diplomatic thaw that has gathered pace after two decades of hostility.

Masresha said that he has a special reason for participating in the run.

"I was stationed in Eritrea as a teacher between 1966-72 and have fond memories of the Eritrean capital Asmara and other Eritrean cities, I will revisit Eritrea soon," said Masresha, who came from Dire Dawa city, 450 km east of Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia and Eritrea cut all forms of contacts at the beginning of their two-year border war from 1998-2000, which killed an estimated 70,000 people from both sides.

Though a peace agreement was signed between the two in Algiers, Algeria, in 2000, a state of armed standoff was kept until this June.

The deadlock was ended when Ethiopia's ruling party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, on June 5 said that it had completely accepted the outcomes of the Algiers peace agreement, and two weeks later Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said that he had also accepted the deal.

In July, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Afwerki visited each other's countries. Then the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea was formally reopened on Sept 11. The two countries have also restored their diplomatic missions, resumed air and trade links, and reestablished phone and postal services.

He Wenping, a senior researcher on African studies at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that people-to-people exchanges, including sport events, are crucial to the renewal of a friendly bilateral relationship.

"The connections of people in Ethiopia and Eritrea have been cut off for two decades," she said. "They need to have more interactions, including cultural and sports events, to gradually get reconnected. The friendship between two countries could be hard to achieve only through high-level visits."

Wubishet Assefa, vice-manager of the JMS and Getsemani Travel Agency, organizer of the event, said he is encouraged by the enthusiasm that he saw at Sunday's run, and plans to hold more athletics events in other Ethiopian cities.

Nega Belay, a senior representative from the Eritrean community in Addis Ababa, said he is working with Eritrean authorities to organize a similar race in Asmara.

"Today's athletics race was a run of two brotherly people and I hope in future such sports events continue between the two countries," he said.

Xinhua and Chen Yingqun contribute to this story.