“Who deprived Ethiopia of Red Sea access?” says Ethiopia’s Abiy

Ethiopia’s ambassador to Kenya, Bacha Debele, has renewed his country’s argument that access to the Red Sea is an “existential imperative,” in a commentary published this week in The Horn Review.

Debele wrote that Ethiopia’s landlocked status, a consequence of Eritrea’s independence in 1993, has imposed long-term economic and security burdens on the country.

“For Ethiopia, historically a coastal nation unjustly deprived of its maritime access in 1993, the Red Sea represents not a nostalgic pursuit but an existential imperative,” he stated. “Maritime access is indispensable to Ethiopia’s sovereignty, economic dynamism, and regional influence.”

He further argued that the circumstances surrounding Eritrea’s secession remain subject to “unresolved legal and moral scrutiny,” asserting that the loss of Assab and other ports continues to carry “strategic and generational weight.”

The commentary follows fresh remarks from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who recently told parliament that sea access is rooted in “legal, historical, geographical and economic realities,” and should be pursued through calm dialogue.

Abiy questioned the process that left Ethiopia without a coastline. “When we ask who decided to deprive Ethiopia of access to the Red Sea, it is clear that institutions were not involved,” he said.

Eritrea, responding to Abiy’s comments, accused Ethiopian officials of ignoring the historical context of its independence. The country’s information minister Yemane G. Meskel said senior officials in Addis Ababa are suffering from a “severe disease of collective amnesia.”

These remarks from Ethiopian officials are not new, but they have increasingly moved into the political mainstream. In October 2023, Abiy delivered a speech to parliament titled “From a Drop of Water to the Sea,” in which he argued that the world’s most populous landlocked country should not indefinitely rely on neighboring states and commercial agreements for its imports and exports. Instead, he openly asserted Ethiopia’s desire to secure direct and sovereign access to the sea.

Since Ethiopia renewed its push for maritime access, neighboring countries have shown reluctance to accommodate its demands. In early 2024, Ethiopia signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Somaliland, prompting the Federal Government of Somalia to sever diplomatic relations with Addis Ababa. Somalia’s president Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud condemned the move as an “expansionist agenda” and vowed to “defend country’s sovereignty.” The diplomatic standoff, which lasted nearly a year, was eventually eased through talks mediated by Turkey.

Djibouti has also faced pressure on the issue. Speaking with Jeune Afrique in May this year, Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh said, “Abiy Ahmed understood that this claim could not be part of a power struggle. Ethiopia can have access to the ports of Assab, Djibouti, Berbera, or Mogadishu without jeopardizing the existence of its neighbors,” adding: “The Ethiopians sent us (Djibouti) a delegation with a proposal we could not accept: to establish a corridor between the Ethiopian border and Tadjoura, benefiting from extraterritoriality, and to establish a naval base for their navy. This was not what we had agreed upon. This matter is therefore closed.”

More recently, during the president of Somaliland’s visit to Addis Ababa, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Somaliland and Ethiopia was widely expected to feature prominently in discussions. However, no official update was released following the visit.

The latest statements from Ethiopian officials add to a growing chorus pushing the country’s demand for direct maritime access. In September, the Ethiopian armed forces declared their readiness to “pay any sacrifice” to secure sea access, a declaration that several regional governments, including Eritrea, have viewed as “irredentist.” These rhetorical escalations are increasingly fueling fears of renewed conflict in the region.