Ethiopian Prime Minsiter gets 2019 Nobel Peace Prize

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali has been awarded Nobel peace prize 2019. Abiy Ahmed is a former Army officer and had been a part of war against Eritrea. He has been awarded for his endeavours in restoring harmonious relations with its neighbor Eritrea after becoming Prime Minister of Ethiopia. The countries had been in a conflict with each other since 1998 over a border dispute.

The prolonged conflict:

After five years of split of Ethiopian- Eritrean Federation (1993), both the countries got into a war in 1998. The dispute was over a town named Badme, which was claimed by both the nations. In 2000, both the countries signed an agreement and war ended. A commission was set up to resolve the issue over disputed territory. In 2002,Badme was awarded to Eritrea by the dispute settlement commission, but Ethiopia completely disagreed and carried on with its occupation of Badme. Since then continuous clashes had been erupting between the army and the residents of town.

Role of Abiy in ending the conflict:

In 2018 Abiy raised himself to the leader of Ruling party and became the Prime Minister of Ethiopia in April. In July 2018, the Prime Minister announced the acceptance of terms of agreement of 2000 and abandoned the town.

Important geographical locations in the Area:

•  Horn of Africa: Four countries Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia form the horn of Africa. The waters around Horn of Africa are famous for Piracy and among them Somalian Pirates are hyped.
• Red Sea: It is a highly saline water body surrounded by Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Djibouti.
• Straight of Bab el Mandeb: It connects Red sea with Gulf of Aden that further opens to Arabian Sea. This straight separates Arabian Peninsula (Yemen) and Horn of Africa ( Djibouti and Eritrea)