Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has reaffirmed that his government has no intention of engaging in a conflict with Eritrea over access to the Red Sea, amid growing concerns about a potential war between the two neighboring nations.
“Ethiopia does not have any intention of engaging in conflict with Eritrea to gain access to the sea,” Abiy stated in a message posted by his office on X. While acknowledging that securing Red Sea access is a crucial issue for landlocked Ethiopia, he emphasized that his government is committed to resolving the matter through peaceful dialogue.
Tensions have escalated in recent weeks following reports that Eritrea had ordered a nationwide military mobilization, according to a human rights organization. Meanwhile, diplomatic sources and officials told Newsmen that Ethiopia has deployed troops toward the border, raising fears of renewed clashes between two of Africa’s largest armies.
A fresh conflict would not only threaten the fragile peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea—one that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019—but could also trigger a humanitarian crisis in a region already destabilized by the war in Sudan.
Eritrea had previously backed Ethiopian federal forces during the brutal 2020–2022 war against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a conflict that left hundreds of thousands dead. However, relations soured after Eritrea was excluded from the peace negotiations that formally ended the war in November 2022.