From soldier to peace might that ethiopias profit historys awarded the nobel prize for helping to win the conflict with night when youre trying but why is it the are trying to lay down on the as well what this is does ill be off message weve been saying this is inside still. Welcome to the program obstat grant the relationship between ethiopia and eritrea could be summed up in 2 woods war and peace for 2 year war over a disputed border region 20 years ago at least 100000 people were killed a tense military standoff followed but last year things changed his new Prime Minister met agreed to accept an International Ruling that sided with they were trapped on the border dispute then he launched a Peace Initiative with the eritrean leader. That resulted in diplomatic relations being restored on tuesday the ahmed received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts but some of questioned that decision not least because the owner was not extended to president. Working well bring in our guests in just a moment 1st though he is out diplomatic editor joins by. This was recognition of a man whos only been in office for 20 months Prime Minister ahmed praised for changing the few in that time releasing fantasies of Political Prisoners and putting the country on a more open policy but the committee that gives the award was determined to make one thing clear to the new leader of the country within the past has been led by kings strong men and dictators by awarding you the Nobel Peace Prize we were not expressing an opinion on how or if you should lead the ethiopian people in the future the leadership of ethiopia and its political platform must be decided by ethiopian people and the ethiopian people alone she said Prime Minister was the main architects of the peace with their a trailer and this was not a joint award it was still more work to be done between the 2 countries at present this work seems to be at a standstill. It is the hope of the new weve been Nobel Committee that your previous achievements coupled with the added encouragement of the peace price will spur the parties to further implementation of the peace treaties i bought after accepting the prize the new Nobel Laureate made it clear he felt he was also accepting it on behalf of his era trent counterpart. Off work he served this award on behalf of video pins and its eons likewise i accept this award on behalf of my partner and common imp is president is it was good will 1st i am as good will trusting commitment where vital in ending that toward a good deadlock between our countries the speech continued in a tone of humility from a leader who started from the most Humble Beginnings and worked his way up through the military ranks after fighting in the war with their a trainer as a young soldiers hes a say that reserve was the reason to put a planning all media interviews in oslo a decision that caused some controversy but he may need more than humility for his next time ask and 2018 he was installed as Prime Minister when his predecessor resigned next year in may will face an Election Campaign for the 1st time james pays aljazeera. Lets bring in our guest now joining us on skype from frankfurt sadar the limber journalist and editor in chief of standard focusing on ethiopia news and politics in london so long to danny human rights activist who specializes on eritrea and also on skype from capetown solution i do shes a researcher at the institute for Global Dialogue in South African think tank welcome to all of you and i suppose i really should start with the obvious question here its a dolly and thats something that everyone asks when someone is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize are they worth the in this case is a worthy recipient a thank you for the question we are in danger me to quote actually the Prime Minister before i started answering your question and they were seen as controversial as the Nobel Peace Prizes are i think for what the Prime Minister has achieved the 1st few is in the office i would say they are rosy but they were recent it would be something that we may need to discuss in a lesser state yet we said well so they get around to that i know that youve already raised some concerns i think it comes down to this basically your position is that you may have a peace deal you dont yet have peace how can you win a peace prize. To true yeah its a its a question of perspectives really for me i have an air tran a very eritrean perspectives on this i too think that in his time in office has done some things that are worth your where if youre mentioning the press Freedom Freedom of association i was very nice this earlier last month last month and and i really appreciate some of what is going on there but as the piece award is being given for peace with eritrea as an eritrean i cannot help but think what peace where is that peace because from from from from where we are in eritrea from where we look into there is hardly any peace where 3 of them mentioned and i want to come back to you on that point ill just go to solution and just get your thoughts solution here on whether this is an award that is an award for hope for potential for other things as well that mitt has done rather than just the peace deal with there are a. Yeah i mean thank you to you and the guests and i think theres been some very important points raised by both my colleagues having gone through this process i think in terms of Nelson Mandela winning the peace award as well and looking at what the what the role was of mr mandela in terms of the negotiations between what was of a fragile if not brink of a internal civil war in south africa i think we have to recognize some of the achievements that he had made and i suspect thats the issue at and is the hope within which this award is being given with the intention that it can lead to better bigger and more kinds of of not just relative but more kind of sustainable levels of stability hoping that this would provide some kind of incentive obviously there are challenges to an award like this the expectation of receiving a such an award and the intention that the award would essentially bring about more than just a relative peace or a kind of broad Peace Process but rather a sustainable viable process i think that reflection in fact cust costs my mind back to our processes in africa we still grappling with some of those structural. And they are supposed you know when you look at such a young leader someone who has played a significant role also in sudan in brokering conflict between kenya and somalia that is someone who is already cast quite a shadow over the region establishing a very strong reputation or at a young age in a young stage in his presidency or Prime Ministership. I angry with you and initially he has you know was fragger in with assuming determination set of changing the landscape of the horror and the politics of the heart of africa which is not an easy thing not only that he and initiated the Peace Process was a trap but we have not we have not seen him i must mention here that some of his own initiatives in the horn of africa i know is this talk between somalia and kenya for example ive been having some dropbox after that so you hasnt been a vote following what he has started off initially the same is true with the peace deal was a trip im going to have to do a little bit of pushback here was wet cell and state. Of peace was an energy i think the Nobel Committee is recognizing the Prime Minister for the peace deal with editor and not with an editor at us that is entirely the affair of their trying to government and attract is a fiercely independent and sovereign state so we need to be able to question separate whether there is peace was an editor our peace between if youre paid editorial my my my opinion is that i do not think this 2 countries would be going back to that status of civil war that they have been into and 998 in 2000 and i think i do hope that the status quo is not going to return back to status quo no peace no war i swear but that doesnt mean that there hasnt been. You know there has been that such factory advancement and there are proxima so far theres a lot of things to be done the same is true for the horn of the primary system is shifted in the horn of africa it is to follow suit some of the things very seriously and there have been some mistakes made in the process so he would have to go back and look what he cited of how he started off and how it is going to process. So little it would have to say lets get a response to so im from that its a reasonable point isnt it so i hear your criticism that that the eritreans have not seen the peace dividend yet but is that really Prime Minister are they off meds job is that the nobel prize committees job is that not a question for trial. Definitely definitely that but it goes without saying theres a lot that needs to be dean done within eritrea thats fine. And it is a lot we are dealing with one of the most brutal dictators the world has seen i would i would go as far as saying that however the reason why eritrea at aged lee shelved its constitution the reason why thousands upon thousands of young people were conscripted into an Indefinite National Service the reason why eritrea couldnt hold elections the reason why we have got some many prison as Political Prisoners has always we were always told that that was the that was because of the the score with the with if you look at the no war not pissed and then the war before that and so thats why i am saying that the peace inside eritrea is inextricably linked to the peace with ethiopia and thats why im saying that yes i do recognise starts and it was a good start i do recognise initiatives and i do recognise the roar of the Prime Minister in initiating in accepting the old use our commitment but a year and a half on we havent seen either the kind of the the the agreements what what has been agreed and what is on the ground theres no demarkation of the border which was the cause for the war in the 1st place. There isnt i mean the border that was briefly open is shut and we dont see any other peace dividends whether it is economic social political any any other things and there is this. Illusion to peace but that doesnt mean anything given the fact that we didnt emerge out of war immediately before this peace accord we actually emerged out of a situation where it was no war. No peace and if youre on eritrean young person sitting at the National Service inside eritrea winding up trains that you have been minding put 20 years nothing has happened that hasnt been any different so thats why i was saying and also i mean i do recognize starts to recognize potential but if theres any mention of how far weve still got to go in in the celebrations any disappointment on that basis that there is a start here there is an end to this conflict and keeping in mind the 10100000 people who died at the height of the conflict the people whove been displaced heres what the bill committee chasid peace does not arise from the actions of one party alone made has referred to as. As hes comrade in peace is there an argument given that what we have seen obey it as you say we have not necessarily seen the full fruits of that peace but given the for the progress thats been made is there not then an argument that this should have been shared shared how shared a joint i mean or no will of allah. Its cannot be because he hasnt shown any signs of change any signs of actually being able to effect that peace he hasnt to mobilize the definite National Sobeys they havent to mobilize the young people back to rehabilitate them he hasnt made any progress by way of showing that now this is a peace era that he can make the steps. You know as a result of that peace and i think it would have been such a more curry of. Of of the whole situation for akiva shared that accorded him for someone who thinks it was too early too little has been done the worst thing would have been to to to give a condolence to south africa by sharing the water yes the dollar. Yeah its a very good point that. Is making in addition to what she has just spoke i think were going to have to also turn back our attention to the Prime Minister our recent sense now that hes a Nobel Laureate and see what he has really turned it was his initiative has got to pushing to ringback you know institutionalize this Peace Process we would have to see not just appear from say support his side but but also beyond its understand that if your base reprising its Foreign Policy of the last couple of decades and that we havent seen the final document and understand that there could be some restraints from the tip insight on how far it can get engaged with every trip but we dont even know the basics of the basic the meaning of the basic document that is. That in the uk right right now in saudi arabia yes we do have a presser a press release about that but if youve been public hasnt been discussing that as well there hasnt been there is not any ringback political solution was was it to appear live which i think is a key partner in this as well in the north there hasnt been any efforts from the Prime Ministers side in engaging what kind of peace negotiation is he having was the editor aside there so theres a lot to be desired here youve raised a lot of questions and i do want to come to those questions about mode and what is expected of him now but i just want to stay with this for a moment solution and get your thoughts on how much credit can be given to work easy because we have seen in the past and sometimes theyve been controversial decisions but we have seen in the past where the nobel prize has been jointly awarded because there were 2 sides to the piece youve heard what both our other guests have had to say here do you have a different view on that or do you also believe that in this case given whats happening inside her trial or even the allegations against the or far terry rule of his eyes didnt work he thought it would have been too far a step too far to board in jointly the nobel prize. Yeah i mean i find it fascinating because both sides make very compelling arguments with regard to the position of a joint. Awarding the prize jointly to both individuals and the pros and cons of that but again you know the when you look at the way in which these awards have been given out in the past except for again i come back to south africa and i think sometimes the question then would have been in the case of both. And youre a tree inside is to what extent would have before the award was given could have been some kind of negotiation around the space particularly with regard to the retreat and leader coming on board and maybe moving in some of the directions that both the colleagues have raised and showing commitment intent and even effect in terms of the kinds of reforms that need to take place what i get the sense of is that this seems to have fallen by the wayside now obviously the Structural Conditions environment between these regions are fundamentally different to where we were 25 years ago in africa and the internal negotiated space and how much of the external player wrote and i think to a large extent these are these are dynamics i mean again the question is you know its not a so its not a sufficient condition just to get the award its what you do but what that award is supposed to be doing and how its supposed to be incentivizing now whether or not the eritrean leader. Who could have received the award as your colleagues rightly point rightly pointed out perhaps its too soon it was be a mockery except for what weve just seen something very interesting with regard to. The manama leader you know months long suki with regard to whats happening there and on a war that was given for help fight against against the the military dictatorship in manama but of course now whats happening with the real thing that people kind of retraction of that are award so again for me i think the bigger questions again is a round one. Is the intention and with or not the open president as a Prime Minister rather as well as the read this and the extent that theres able to push the spaces its not sufficient enough just let you know what its about what kind of peace your ability and sustainability can be a. Solution as a couple of really interesting points there of course the reference to Aung San Suu Kyi and now facing these these hearings around genocide which shows you know just how sometimes the expectation and winning an award like this the expectations are not necessarily met but she also writes something about south africa and when we saw the click and then deliver jointly win an award that also spoke to the relationship that was built around now there is a close personal relationship there appears to be between these 2 leaders is that relationship that personal relationship going to be Strong Enough to bring about the reform in your country that youd like to see. Oh uncertainty that was the hope for many that i mean it was what many people hoped for and and the thing is this this awards are either for results or for potential of results and and for a potential you need to you need to evidence it will be with a track record or with the steps that have been taken and if you take a track record of some for it were talking about allegations of crimes against humanity for instance that have been that have never been responded to and then youve got that against the background that eritrea has never own the eritrean regime the regime in eritrea has never responded positively to any attempts of trying to bring it round back to the negotiating table back to talk to to form other processes of engaging. The you know the government and the people of eritrea so if we consider the results its early days ok there may be potentials but then you need to see the realisation of those potentials are there systems in eritrea is there any plans to reform some of the systems that have made eritrea become one of the worst or pendants of human rights in our in our world today so not only isnt there isnt any evidence to suggest or that so dolly when it comes to that personal relationship how did you feel when youve seen images before of abi ahmed with his arm around a serious if work you when you heard the speech and of course you know talking about a comrade in peace that personal relationship you said youd like to see these boards juice analyze have you thought about that personal relationship and what that could deliver or there were times when you know i had my skin crawling particularly when as you mention now we know the hands and all of these talks on the stage when i do. Is and the Prime Minister addressing a president to say as ive heard him by a nickname issue we have some you know uncomfortable moments of the Prime Minister leading a Foreign Policy of his own country based on his personal trait so there have been a lot of criticisms of that as well and that is partly why people who are criticizing the 9 advancement of the Peace Process today are mentioning it hinges on the personal relationship between him and president he says and work its a lot can be done to improve that and not the prime of my Prime Minister as i would quote him often needs to do and that in a moving away from from conducting a person and diplomacy and institutionalizing that and so it doesnt it doesnt help hes efforts that hes engaged more into this kind of relationship is that was that was a president that theres nothing substantial on the ground so i do hope that with the nobel prize for peace now it is time he would be more of the states my liking getting only ever eritrea and institutionalizing what has been done so far that im just you know having the entire relationship you know dangling based on his own personal characters if i if im that put it just just a final thought from you so theres if i couldnt unfortunately after hold you to about to about 30 seconds but one of the hopes here for africa with the young leader receiving an award such as this there are some concerns about some of the hardline measures hes taken inside his own country hes posting elections next year and so forth that could also be problematic but one of the hopes broadly in africa after this war i think one of the things that perhaps is something we need to think about racist in africa is Young Leaders we dont have perfect leaders we dont necessarily have leaders that you know kind of coming from an end where they are not necessarily grappling with their own kind of leadership. Crises in terms of the domestic whatever but what we need to see is them taking the initiative and hopefully this is part of the way in which we can actually get kids recalibrate even the a you in terms of the leadership and the kinds of Young Leaders that come into the fold in africa and bring more innovative leadership and governance to the continent its been a pleasure to speak to all of you on the program so now the lemma thank you so much for your time. Today arnie and solution not i thank you so much and thank you to you for watching you can see the program any time by visiting our website aljazeera dot com and for further discussion go to our Facebook Page thats facebook dot com forward slash a. J. Inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle these a. J. Inside story from a stan grant in the entire team india but. I. We were told to get to that bit of truth has this been addressed by took a listen what these the proposal. For a couple on you know we meet with global newsmakers and talk about the stories that matter. Aljazeera. And theres a problem and this is the news hour live from doha coming up in the next 60 minutes. Authorities in northeastern india impose a curfew after widespread protests against a citizenship bill thats being passed by parliament. Leader Aung San Suu Kyi defends her country against a genocide charges that the International Court of justice