The Resurgence of an Imperial Ghost The political landscape of the Horn of Africa was jolted in late 2023 by the resurgence of a decades-old ambition emanating from Addis Ababa. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government began a concerted campaign, articulating what it framed as Ethi
For nearly two decades, the world was fed a simple story: Eritreans were fleeing “en masse,” and neighbouring African states generously opened their doors. In Europe’s capitals, this narrative fit neatly into pre-existing political agendas. But behind the headlines and donor broc
Eritrea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Nov. 23, 2025 has issued one of its most comprehensive and forceful rebukes to date of Ethiopia’s ongoing campaign for “sovereign access” to the Red Sea, accusing Addis Ababa of reviving old expansionist doctrines under new language and at
Within a few hours this week, a nearly identical paragraph began marching across Ethiopian state-linked accounts on X and Facebook. From the Ethiopian Embassy in Tokyo to embassy pages in Beijing and other missions, from MFA-adjacent pages to partisan activists, the same text app
Ethiopia’s Prosperity Party officials and elites have been making a flurry of claims and declarations the past few months with respect to their aspirations on the Red Sea. They use the term “sea access” to cloak their real intent of asserting control over a coastline. This obsess
Speaking on a radio show in Mbale this week, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni moved from economic complaints to open strategic language. He argued that Uganda is “entitled” to the Indian Ocean, using a condominium analogy: if Africa is a block of flats, he said, the compound —
There are moments in African politics when the truth must be said without varnish, without diplomatic hedging, without the cowardice of “neutrality.” We are in one of those moments now. Ethiopia’s rulers — from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to his Foreign Minister, generals, propagan
In the high-stakes theater of Horn of Africa politics, a familiar script is being rehearsed. The stage is set in Addis Ababa, the lead actor is the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry, and the plot revolves around a dramatic, almost comedic, attempt to recast an aggressor as the aggrieved
By any standard of diplomacy, Ethiopian FM Gedion Timothewos’s speech at Addis Ababa University should be taught — not as foreign policy, but as an Olympic-level exercise in historical revisionism, projection, and victim theatrics. He spoke confidently, but confidence does not di
The Red Sea has always been more than a body of water. It is a living archive, a sacred artery of trade, migration, and memory. Long before colonial maps carved borders into the Horn of Africa, the Red Sea was a mirror of endurance — a cradle where civilizations learned to breath
When the African Union (AU) released a full-page statement from Addis Ababa this week condemning a comment made by Donald Trump about Nigeria, it was more than just an exercise in diplomacy — it was a mirror reflecting the organization’s moral bankruptcy. The AU can apparently fi
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has accused Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government of “grave violations” of the Pretoria Agreement, warning that Ethiopia is sliding back into another catastrophic war barely two years after the peace accord ended the devastating confli
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