Eritrea: President Afewerki's high-profile visit to Ethiopia

Eritrean President Issaias Afewerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed raise the Eritrean flag during an inauguration ceremony marking the reopening of the Eritrean Embassy in Addis Ababa on July 16, 2018 (illustration image). MICHAEL TEWELDE / AFP

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Eritrean President Issayas Afewerki visited Ethiopia on Sunday and Monday, May 4, for a two-day widely publicized visit during the Covid-19 pandemic. This surprise visit comes after weeks of rumors about his state of health or his continued leadership. Rumors, again denied by what seems to be mainly a communication operation, to assert its power.

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It is an Issayas Afewerki, as usual scowling, but not very sure who embarked Sunday morning on a plane for Addis Ababa. During the day, the Eritrean Ministry of Information but also the office of the Ethiopian Prime Minister widely distributed photographs of his lunch with Abiy Ahmed and the Ethiopian president, Zewde Sale-Wohk. This Monday, it was a visit to agricultural projects in Oromia which had the honors of the presidential press.

This is how smiles, conversations with or without a mask on the face, came to end a month of crazy rumors. Within the Eritrean diaspora and on social networks we have indeed said the sick president, victim of a heart attack or even deceased.

For an Eritrean journalist in exile, always well informed, “  Issayas does his Issayas. It is a new bravado from a man who always wants to show that he does not care about convenience and that he intends to remain in the center of attention  ”.

Another journalist explains that there is no shortage of subjects for conversation with Abiy Ahmed. Issayas has fun and once again plays with rumors to show that he is in control and discrediting his detractors,  " he said.

► Read also: Meeting in Addis Ababa of the Ethiopian Prime Minister and the Eritrean president

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  • Ethiopia
  • Eritrea
  • Issayas Afewerki

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