The Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) said the country’s controversial ambition over the Red Sea and the Port of Assabin nighbouring Eritrea is a matter of survival and must be realised at all cost.
Eritrea broke away from the rest of Ethiopia in 1993, leaving the latter landlocked.
In a statement released on Monday, the ENDF said Ethiopia’s geopolitical national interest has been obstructed over the last 30 years due to protracted conspiracy within and outside the country.
The ENDF stated that the official raising of the Red Sea question at the international level “has filled Ethiopian soldiers, who would not hesitate for a second to pay any sacrifice for the realisation of our Ethiopia’s national interest, with immense joy.”
The statement drew comparison between Ethiopia’s quest for the Red Sea and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) which the nation inaugurated earlier this month, saying the country’s maritime ambition will also be realised by any means necessary.
“When we willingly and voluntarily dedicate ourselves for the realisation of our Ethiopia’s national interest, there should be no doubt that we do so with full awareness” the statement said.
The army concluded by asserting that “any attempt to claim the question of the Red Sea, and by extension the Port of Assab, is incorrect by Ethiopia’s detractors would be inappropriate.
The statement comes amid heightened tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea which regards Addis Ababa’s ambition to access the Red Sea and the Port of Assab an act of open aggression agianst its own sovereignty.
Asmara has not reacted to the statement by the Ethiopian military with which it had fought a bitter two-year border conflict which ended in 2000.
Senior defense officials have previously stressed Ethiopia’s historic and strategic claim to the Red Sea.
Major General Teshome Gemechu, Director General of Foreign Relations and Military Cooperation at the Ministry of Defense, described sea access—particularly through Assab Port – as a historic right and an existential need for Ethiopia.
MG/as/APA