Ethiopia PM rules out war with Eritrea over Red Sea access

Record ID: 1984775

  • Title: Ethiopia PM rules out war with Eritrea over Red Sea access
  • Date: 20th March 2025
  • Summary: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (MARCH 20, 2025) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PARLIAMENTARIANS SEATED ETHIOPIAN PRIME MINISTER, ABIY AHMED, SEATED WITH HOUSE SPEAKER PARLIAMENTARIANS IN TRADITIONAL DRESS WATCHING (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) ETHIOPIAN PRIME MINISTER, ABIY AHMED, SAYING: "Ethiopia has no intention of invading Eritrea for the sake of the Red Sea. What it wants is to have dialogue ba
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Red Sea abiy ahmed conflict eritrea ethiopia tigray
  • Location: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
  • City: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
  • Country: Ethiopia
  • Topics: Africa,Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001032420032025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Thursday (March 20) that his government would not seek conflict with longtime foe Eritrea over access to the Red Sea, after regional officials and experts warned of a possible war between the Horn of Africa neighbours.
    Though access to the Red Sea was an existential matter for landlocked Ethiopia, his government wanted to address it peacefully via dialog, Abiy added.
    Fears of war emerged in recent weeks after Eritrea ordered a nationwide military mobilization, according to a human rights group, and Ethiopia deployed troops toward the border, diplomatic sources and officials told Reuters.
    Renewed clashes between two of Africa's largest armies would end a historic rapprochement for which Abiy won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 and risk a humanitarian disaster in a region already grappling with the fallout of the Sudan war.
    The rapprochement saw Eritrea back Ethiopian federal forces during the 2020-2022 war between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopia's central government, which killed hundreds of thousands of people.But the neighbours fell out again after Eritrea was frozen out of talks to end that war in November 2022.
    (Production: Kumerra Gemechu, Mukelwa Hlatshwayo)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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