The newspaper Addis Standard wrote on April 2 of the appointment of Binam Berhe as Eritrea’s new chargé d’affaires in Ethiopia, replacing the outgoing Ambassador Semere Russom, former Permanent Representative to the African Union and then Ambassador to Addis Ababa since July 2018, after the announcement of the joint declaration of peace and friendship between Ethiopia and Eritrea, signed the previous July 9.
The reason for replacing the Eritrean ambassador with a chargé d’affaires is unclear, although the Ethiopian newspaper recalls how even on the diplomatic appointments of the Ethiopian ambassador in Asmara was subject of somewhat controversial circumstances.
In fact, Ethiopia had appointed in 2018 as its ambassador to Eritrea Redwan Hussein, former diplomatic representative of Addis Ababa in Ireland, but his letters of credentials were not accepted until the end of 2019. A few weeks later, however, Redwan Hussein was appointed Minister of State in Ethiopia, without taking service in Eritrea, where Mihreteab Mulugetas was appointed in his place on March 20, 2020.
The credentials of this diplomat, then, were never accepted by the Eritrean government, and Mihreteab Mulugetas was later appointed Ambassador of Ethiopia to Sweden.
In his place was then appointed Ambassador Fikadu Beyen, who, however, seems to have not yet submitted his credentials to the Eritrean government.
