---
title: "Ethiopia PM rules out war with Eritrea over Red Sea access"
description: "Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Thursday 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."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-03-20-ethiopia-pm-rules-out-war-with-eritrea-over-red-sea-access/"
published: "2025-03-20T12:31:03"
updated: "2025-03-20T12:31:05"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 194
---

# Ethiopia PM rules out war with Eritrea over Red Sea access

> Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Thursday 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.

By Reuters · Published 20 March 2025, 14:31 SAST · Updated 20 March 2025, 14:31 SAST

## Key points
- In a bid to keep the peace and avoid turning the Red Sea into a battleground, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed insists that his landlocked nation has no plans for a seaside skirmish with Eritrea, despite the recent military mobilization across the border that’s got everyone on edge.
- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed asserts no intention to engage in conflict with Eritrea over access to the sea.
- Abiy emphasizes a preference for peaceful dialogue to resolve Ethiopia's landlocked status.
- Rising tensions follow Eritrea's military mobilization and Ethiopia's troop deployments near the border.
- Renewed hostilities threaten to undo the 2019 peace accord and exacerbate regional humanitarian crises.

## Content

"Ethiopia does not have any intention of engaging in conflict with Eritrea for the purpose of gaining access to the sea," Abiy said, according to a post by his office on X.

Though access to the Red Sea was an existential matter for landlocked Ethiopia, his government wanted to address it peacefully via dialogue, Abiy added.

Fears of war emerged in recent weeks after Eritrea ordered a nationwide military mobilisation, 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.

(Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw; Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Ammu Kannampilly and Gareth Jones)