(Africanews) – Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced on Thursday, March 20, 2025, that his administration will not escalate tensions with Eritrea over access to the Red Sea, despite concerns from regional officials and experts about a possible conflict between the neighboring countries.
Fears of war have grown following Eritrea’s nationwide military mobilization and reports of Ethiopian troop movements toward the border, according to diplomatic sources and officials.
Abiy stressed that while securing access to the Red Sea is vital for landlocked Ethiopia, his government is committed to peaceful negotiations rather than military action.
Renewed hostilities between the two nations could undermine the historic reconciliation that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 and could further destabilize a region already suffering from the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
The reconciliation had previously led to Eritrea supporting Ethiopian federal forces during the civil war from 2020 to 2022, a conflict that resulted in heavy casualties.
However, relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea deteriorated after Eritrea was excluded from negotiations that ended the civil war in November 2022.
Since then, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has fractured, with rival factions competing for control of the interim administration in the Tigray region.
The current Ethiopian administration has accused one faction of aligning with Eritrea, while the opposing group claims their rivals have failed to protect Tigrayan interests.
Abiy informed parliament that the interim administration’s mandate has been extended for another year with some adjustments, though he did not specify whether this would involve changes in leadership—a key demand of the dissenting faction.
He confirmed that the interim administration will remain in place until the next general election in 2026, in line with the Pretoria agreement.
