Ethiopia and Eritrea end decades of hostilities with new agreement

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will meet Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Monday after Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to restore relations.

It follows a landmark meeting between leaders of the two countries on Sunday, which ends decades of diplomatic and armed battles between the two sides.

Eritrea President Isaias Afwerki hosted Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in the capital Asmara, in a move it is hoped will end a tense stand-off between the two sides.

"We agreed that the airlines will start operating, the ports will be accessible, people can move between the two countries and the embassies will be opened," Abiy said.

"We will demolish the wall and, with love, build a bridge between the two countries."

A war between the two countries from 1998 and 2000 war killed 80,000 people, marked by pitched battles that included trench warfare.

Ethiopia rejected a UN ruling to handover Eritrea land along the border.

There were few signs of animosity between the two countries on Sunday, as Ahmed and Afwerki embraced at the airport in Asmara.

Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel tweeted that the meeting was "mesmerising".