Eritrean National Airline Makes First Flight in Decades to Ethiopia

Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki (R) and Ethiopia's PM Abiy Ahmed (L) raise Eritrea's flag marking the reopening of the Eritrean embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, July 16, 2018. (Reuters)
Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki (R) and Ethiopia's PM Abiy Ahmed (L) raise Eritrea's flag marking the reopening of the Eritrean embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, July 16, 2018. (Reuters)
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Eritrean National Airline Makes First Flight in Decades to Ethiopia

Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki (R) and Ethiopia's PM Abiy Ahmed (L) raise Eritrea's flag marking the reopening of the Eritrean embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, July 16, 2018. (Reuters)
Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki (R) and Ethiopia's PM Abiy Ahmed (L) raise Eritrea's flag marking the reopening of the Eritrean embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, July 16, 2018. (Reuters)

For the first time in 20 years, Eritrea’s national airline made its first commercial flight to Ethiopia on Saturday as the two neighbors continued their peace process, ending years of conflict.

An Eritrean Airlines plane carrying the country's transport and tourism ministers landed at the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, where it was welcomed by senior Ethiopian officials.

Already last month, the Ethiopia's own flag carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, had made its first commercial flight in the other direction, landing in Asmara International Airport on July 18.

Once a province of Ethiopia, Eritrea seceded in 1993 after a long independence struggle. A row over the demarcation of the shared border triggered a brutal 1998-2000 conflict which left 80,000 people dead before evolving into a bitter cold war.

But in a surprise move in June, Ethiopia's new reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced he would finally accept a 2002 United Nations-backed border demarcation, paving the way for peace between the two nations.

He then paid a historic visit to Eritrea, during which he and President Isaias Afwerki declared an official end to the war. Afwerki reciprocated with a state visit to Ethiopia just days later.

Embassies have since been reopened and phone lines between the two countries have also been restored.

Eritrean Airlines currently has only one leased airplane.

"The new route will expand existing regional flights of the airline to Cairo, Khartoum, Jeddah and Dubai," Eritrea's information minister Yemane Gebre Meskel said on Twitter.

Last month, Ethiopian Airlines chief executive Tewolde GebreMariam revealed his state-owned company was in talks to buy a stake in Eritrean Airlines as part of efforts to boost commercial ties between the two countries, who were once each others' biggest trading partners.

Ethiopia's flag carrier is the most profitable in Africa and in recent years has been has been buying shares in other African airlines.



Study: Highest Number of Conflicts Worldwide in 2024 Since 1946

Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Study: Highest Number of Conflicts Worldwide in 2024 Since 1946

Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The world saw the highest number of armed conflicts in almost 80 years in 2024, dethroning 2023 as a record year, a Norwegian study published Wednesday showed, highlighting the risks linked to a US disengagement.

Last year, 61 conflicts were registered in the world across 36 countries, with some countries experiencing several simultaneous conflicts, the report by the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (Prio) said.

In 2023, there were 59 conflicts in 34 countries, AFP reported.

"This is not just a spike -- it's a structural shift," said Siri Aas Rustad, the main author of the report which covers trends in armed conflicts in the period 1946-2024.

"The world today is far more violent, and far more fragmented, than it was a decade ago," she said.

Africa remained the most ravaged continent, with 28 conflicts involving at least one state, followed by Asia with 17, the Middle East with 10, Europe with three and the Americas with two.

More than half of these countries experienced two or more conflicts.

The number of deaths resulting from fighting remained around the same level as in 2023, at about 129,000, making 2024 the fourth-deadliest year since the end of the Cold War in 1989, the study said.

The death toll was led by the wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, as well as clashes in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

"Now is not the time for the United States -– or any global power -– to retreat from international engagement," Rustad said.

"Isolationism in the face of rising global violence would be a profound mistake with long-term human life consequences," she said, a reference to US President Donald Trump's "America First" campaign.

"It is a mistake to assume the world can look away. Whether under President Trump or any future administration, abandoning global solidarity now would mean walking away from the very stability the US helped build after 1945," she said.

The study is based on data compiled by Sweden's Uppsala University.