Ethiopia again demands access to the Red Sea as tensions with neighbors escalate
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is reiterating his country’s demand for Red Sea access, escalating tensions with neighboring coastal nations who maintain that governance of the sea rests with them. The dispute adds to existing regional conflicts over the Tigray region and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Monday reiterated that his landlocked country must have access to the Red Sea, despite neighboring countries saying at a summit Sunday that responsibility for the sea rests with states along its shores and warning of the risk of regional conflict.
Ethiopia lost direct access to the Red Sea in 1993 after Eritrea, formerly a region of Ethiopia, became independent.
Shortly after being sworn in for a third term on Monday, Abiy said access to the Red Sea was critical to Ethiopia’s “civilization” and that he would work to ensure the country has a port.
“Based on the principle of give and take, we will work diligently to ensure that Ethiopia has an outlet to the sea,” he said.
Ethiopia’s relations with its regional neighbors have deteriorated recently. It also faces a renewed war with separatist rebels in the northern Tigray region.
Fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front have clashed with federal troops, where a devastating two-year war ended in 2022. Researchers at Ghent University estimated that 500,000 civilians died from violence, famine and the collapse of health services.
Eritrean troops fought alongside Ethiopian forces during the war in Tigray, but recently, Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of supporting the rebels and mobilizing support from Egypt and Sudan. Eritrea, in turn, has accused Ethiopia of seeking access to the sea through its territory.
A separate dispute over Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile River has strained relations with Egypt and Sudan, which rely on the Nile for water.
On Sunday, four of the five countries that border the Red Sea — Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia — met in the Egyptian city of New Alamein, and called for cooperation on regional issues. They said governance of the Red Sea is the exclusive responsibility of its coastal states and rejected actions that could affect the use of Nile waters by Egypt and Sudan.
Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that geographic realities must be considered in discussions over the Nile and Red Sea, noting that the Blue Nile originates in Ethiopia and that the country is located close to the Red Sea.
Ethiopia said it remains committed to dialogue and peaceful regional engagement while defending its sovereignty and national interests.
The latest diplomatic tensions follow a deterioration in relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea and come after an Egyptian diplomat was declared persona non grata.
The United Nations and African Union have expressed concern over the rising tensions and called for a peaceful resolution.