Political Goodwill a Catalyst for Peace: A Case of Ethiopia-Eritrea Conflict Settlement

Ethiopia and Eritrea are located in the Horn of Africa, sharing a border that previously led to bloody and most prolonged conflict. The most remembered and protracted war is the Badme border conflict that has resulted in thousands of loss of lives in both countries, famine and drought, support for rebel groups destabilizing each other’s regime, and instability in the Horn. Although they share similar ethnic groups, languages, cultures, etc., these shared legacies have resulted in different political, economic, and historical outcomes. In 2000, the international community managed to bring both countries to the table and convinced them to accept international arbitration. However, arbitration was a legal measure that both countries declined to actualize. In 2018, both countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding, a political step, and till 2022, both countries have enjoyed relatively a peaceful co-existence. This paper analyses factors fueling the conflict, the eventuality of the 2018 Peace Agreement that has brought peace in both countries after decades of antagonism, and how political goodwill played a crucial role in settling this conflict. This paper deployed in-depth desk review research, text analysis and interpretation, and official documents. In its theoretical and methodological approach, the paper adopted an interdisciplinary approach. In its findings, this study notes that political goodwill led to the 2018 Peace Agreement compared to the ‘external’ 2000 arbitration and Algiers Agreement, where although the parties ‘accepted’ these legal binding measures, they did not ‘consent’ to implement. For the 2018 Agreement, political goodwill led to establishing the enforcement mechanism and consequences of the breach, thus concluding that political ownership and leadership influence peace.