Red Sea Dreams: Can Ethiopia Swap National Icons for a Maritime Future?
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Thursday renewed his push to secure Ethiopia’s long-sought access to the Red Sea, calling it a “matter of survival” essential to the country’s long-term development and security and insisting any path forward would be negotiated, commercial and peaceful.
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Speaking during a question-and-answer session with the House of People’s Representatives, Abiy framed the issue as central to regional stability and integration across the Horn of Africa. He urged neighbors — including Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan and Kenya — to anchor cooperation in shared interests and resist what he described as destabilizing foreign interference.
“Our region is indivisible,” Abiy told lawmakers, arguing that the Horn of Africa’s interwoven cultural, linguistic and historical ties should drive a new era of collaboration. He said outside agendas have historically deepened divides, and he appealed for a collective approach to security and development.
Ethiopia, home to roughly 130 million people and the world’s most populous landlocked country, has been without sovereign sea access since Eritrea’s independence in 1993. While Ethiopian leaders have long cast their gaze toward the Red Sea and the port of Assab, Abiy said the quest for a maritime corridor has become a centerpiece of his administration’s national security strategy over the past year.
To calm neighborly anxieties over Ethiopia’s maritime ambitions, Abiy outlined a menu of “mutual gain” options he said Addis Ababa is willing to consider in exchange for a port arrangement. Those include offering equity in prized national assets and negotiating long-term economic concessions.
- Equity stakes for neighboring states in crown jewels such as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)
- Potential stakes in Ethiopian Airlines
- Long-term land swaps or leasing agreements tied to port access
“We do not intend to take what is not ours by force,” Abiy said, striking a conciliatory tone after months of heightened rhetoric that rattled the region. “This issue can and should be resolved through the principles of trade, peace, and dialogue.”
The prime minister’s remarks land at a delicate diplomatic moment. Earlier assertions about Ethiopia’s need for Red Sea access have drawn sharp rebukes from Mogadishu and Cairo, which view any shift in Red Sea alignments as strategically consequential. Abiy on Thursday sought to narrow those concerns, contending that a negotiated, commercial framework — not coercion — remains the only viable path to meet the economic needs of Ethiopia’s rapidly growing population.
Abiy did not name a preferred partner, specific waterway or timeline, but he cast the proposal as part of a broader bid to rewire regional interdependence. He urged governments around the Horn to view infrastructure and trade as shared platforms rather than zero-sum prizes, arguing that the costs of fragmentation — from security stress to suppressed growth — are too high for any country to bear alone.
By floating creative trade-offs that touch revered national symbols like the GERD and Ethiopian Airlines, Abiy signaled a willingness to put major chips on the table. The offer underscores both the urgency Addis Ababa attaches to maritime access and the political sensitivity of brokering a deal that would satisfy wary neighbors and a proud domestic audience.
Whether those overtures translate into a concrete agreement will depend on trust, verification and regional buy-in — particularly from countries that have bristled at suggestions of Ethiopian expansionism. For now, Abiy’s message is calibrated to soothe: Ethiopia seeks a port through “win-win” commercial terms, not force; a durable outcome, he argues, will be built on trade, peace and dialogue rather than rivalry.
By placing Red Sea access at the heart of his security agenda — and publicly offering to exchange slices of national icons for a maritime future — Abiy has set the stakes: Ethiopia’s growth trajectory, he says, hinges on anchoring itself to the sea through negotiation, not confrontation.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
