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Ethiopia Accuses Eritrea of Destabilising the Horn, Calls for Regional Economic Integration as a Path to Peace

Posted on: 2025-11-15 11:10:33

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ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister, Gedion Timothewos, issued one of the government’s starkest warnings yet over deteriorating relations with Eritrea, declaring that Asmara’s actions pose a direct threat to regional stability and to Ethiopia’s sovereignty. Speaking at the Foreign Policy Forum at Addis Ababa University on Friday, Dr. Gedion argued that the Horn of Africa stands at a perilous juncture, beset by overlapping crises, despite its vast economic promise.

Tracing more than seven decades of turbulence between the two countries, the Minister asserted that Eritrea has repeatedly adopted a “hostile posture,” regardless of Ethiopia’s political orientation or maritime claims. He rejected external narratives attributing current tensions to Ethiopia’s quest for sea access, calling such explanations “gross oversimplifications” that obscure deeper historical and structural causes.

Dr. Gedion accused the Eritrean leadership of pursuing policies rooted in insecurity, proxy alignments, and an “anomalous” state structure focused on militarisation rather than public welfare. Eritrea’s indefinite conscription policy, he said, had “subsumed society into the state,” generating mass flight and enabling “lucrative trafficking enterprises.”

He warned that Eritrean forces currently occupy Ethiopian territory and provide “substantial material support” to armed groups, conditions that, he noted, furnish Addis Ababa with “ample grounds” for self-defence. Ethiopia, however, has opted for restraint, though such restraint “cannot be indefinite.”

Despite the gravity of the moment, Dr. Gedion set out a long-term vision anchored in regional economic integration. Ethiopia, he argued, sees the Horn as a shared geo-economic space whose future depends on strategic autonomy, mutual respect, and the rejection of external hegemonies. He proposed a phased integration model beginning with a free trade area and expanding towards harmonised economic policies and joint infrastructure development — including arrangements that would secure Ethiopia’s long-term maritime access.

He urged Eritrea to join this vision and called on the international community to pressure Asmara to cease its “provocations” and embrace dialogue. “We should not be captives to our history,” he said. “May peace prevail in the Horn.”

Read the Full Speech Here