ADDIS ABABA, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said on Monday Eritrea is expected to send a first delegation to Addis Ababa this week for peace talks.
The press statement from MoFA didn't mention the exact date when the Eritrean delegation will arrive or who will lead the Eritrean delegation to Ethiopia.
Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war from 1998 to 2000 that killed an estimated 70,000 people from both sides before signing a peace accord, dubbed the Algiers agreement, on December 12, 2000.
On June 5, the Executive Committee of the ruling party, the Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) passed decision expressing Ethiopia's commitment to an unconditional implementation of Algiers peace agreement with Eritrea.
The peace agreement ended the two-year border war, but a tense armed standoff continued with the two countries engaging in skirmishes occasionally.
Ethiopia until this month had declined to endorse the results of the peace agreement fully, including the symbolically important town of Badme which Ethiopia currently controls but which was awarded to Eritrea.
Eritrea for its part has insisted the border demarcation has to be done first before any talks on normalizing ties.
On Tuesday, Eritrean President Isais Afewerki, broke two weeks of silence by announcing his government is sending a delegation to assess Ethiopia's peace offer.