Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has renewed his push for sea access, casting Ethiopia’s landlocked status not only as an economic burden but also as a threat to security, sovereignty and digital privacy.
In an interview with state broadcaster ETV on 15 April, Abiy went beyond his usual economic case and described the lack of a coastline as a wider structural weakness for Ethiopia.
“To be without a sea outlet is to be without privacy,” Abiy said, invoking the Amharic word “gemena”, or “my secret”.
He said dependence on external transit routes leaves Ethiopia exposed across trade, communications and digital infrastructure, including undersea cables, satellite links and cross-border data flows.
Strategic survival
The remarks reflect a more securitised turn in Addis Ababa’s message on maritime access. Ethiopia no longer presents the issue only in terms of transport costs and competitiveness, but now also frames it as one of state control and strategic security.
Abiy has tried before to ease regional concerns over the issue. In October 2023, he said Ethiopia had no intention of seeking sea access by force.
In March 2025, he again ruled out war with Eritrea over Red Sea access, while describing the matter as important to Ethiopia’s future.
While he still says Ethiopia will pursue access peacefully, his latest remarks link maritime access more directly to state secrecy, resilience and national capacity.
The stakes are high for Ethiopia, which became landlocked after Eritrea gained independence in 1993.
More than 95 per cent of Ethiopia’s import-export trade by volume passes through the Addis-Djibouti corridor, according to the World Bank, underlining the scale of the country’s dependence on external routes.
Diplomatic friction
The renewed rhetoric comes at a sensitive diplomatic moment.
In February, Abiy said he had asked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for diplomatic support for Ethiopia’s push for sea access, highlighting how central the issue has become in Addis Ababa’s regional diplomacy.
Turkey has mediated the dispute between Ethiopia and Somalia since tensions flared over Addis Ababa’s January 2024 memorandum of understanding with Somaliland, the breakaway region that Somalia still considers part of its territory.
The deal proposed access to Somaliland’s coast for a naval facility and commercial use in exchange for possible recognition, prompting strong objections from Mogadishu.
Turkey later brokered the Ankara Declaration, adopted on December 11, 2024, under which Somalia and Ethiopia agreed to pursue “reliable, secure and sustainable” access arrangements while reaffirming respect for Somalia’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.
Despite Turkish mediation, Ethiopia’s maritime push has continued to strain ties with Eritrea.
In February, Ethiopia accused Eritrea of military aggression and of supporting armed groups inside Ethiopian territory, while also saying it remained open to peaceful negotiations on issues including access to the Red Sea through Assab.
Eritrea rejected the accusations as “false and fabricated”. Reuters reported that Eritrea has taken offence at Abiy’s repeated comments on sea access, which many Eritreans view as an implied threat.
In December, the United Nations urged both countries to recommit to the 2000 Algiers Agreement, which ended their border war and remains the main framework governing their sovereignty and territorial boundaries.
‘Conquest’ warnings
Adding to the unease, former Ethiopian army chief Lieutenant General Tsadkan Gebretensae recently used state media to revive a long-running grievance.
He said Ethiopia had failed to turn battlefield gains into political outcomes during the 1998-2000 war with Eritrea, noting that Assab was politically off-limits at the time.
Analysts note that the shift in rhetoric may also be aimed at a domestic audience.
“The prime minister’s emphasis on maritime access appears to serve primarily domestic and strategic purposes,” said Surafel Getahun, a Kenya-based political analyst and former lecturer at Dire Dawa University.
Getahun said the rhetoric could help rally nationalist sentiment during economic difficulties while increasing pressure on neighbouring states for more favourable terms.
But he cautioned that retrospective claims about missed wartime opportunities over Assab do not stand up legally, arguing that, under international law, any attempt to take the port would constitute conquest rather than recovery.
Tilahun Adamu, a former Ethiopian diplomat to Somalia and a US-based legal professional, said Ethiopia should focus less on grievance and more on long-term strategy.
“Ethiopia possesses the right to reliable access to and from the sea, and should actively pursue it,” he said.
“However, it must articulate a strategy that ensures long-term, stable and peaceful utilisation.”
That tension now sits at the centre of regional concern. While Abiy maintains Ethiopia will pursue access peacefully, his latest language suggests Addis Ababa increasingly sees the issue as a strategic necessity.
“If we do not solve this, our industry will not be competitive,” Abiy said.