Eritrea to send first ambassador to Ethiopia in two decades

The east African state of Eritrea has appointed Semere Russom as the country’s first envoy in two decades to neighboring Ethiopia, Information Minister Yemane Meskel said on Twitter. Russom is Eritrea’s current education minister and the country’s former ambassador to the United States. Sending the ambassador is part of a mutual effort to mend ties that have remained strained since the 1998 Ethiopia-Eritrea war, as well as numerous border conflicts.