Securing Sea Access Safeguards National Interest, Addresses Historical Injustices: Scholars

Addis Ababa, October 29, 2025 (ENA) – Ethiopian scholars have emphasized that the country’s quest to access the Red Sea is a strategic national agenda designed to protect Ethiopia’s long-term interests and rectify historical injustices.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, while responding to questions posed by members of the House of Peoples’ Representatives yesterday at the second regular session of the 5th parliamentary year, emphasized that the Red Sea issue is not merely a political matter but a legal, historical, geographical, and economic concern central to Ethiopia’s future.

Mohamed Osman, President of Semera University, told ENA that the Red Sea represents international geopolitical center of gravity and the core line of peace and security in the Horn of Africa.

According to the president, the Red Sea is a matter of national security and sovereignty for Ethiopia, and current efforts to correct “historic injustice” that deprived of the country’s access to the sea are both legitimate rights.

Ethiopia has reached a decisive moment that reclaiming sea access has become a generational priority, he underscored.

“Ethiopia should not remain a landlocked nation,” and that addressing the question of sea port ownership is essential to protecting national interests and repairing historical fractures,” he added.  

Dejene Yamene, International Law Scholar, on his parts, elaborated that international law and UN maritime conventions support the rationality and legitimacy of Ethiopia’s quest to access sea.

The country’s historical and natural connection to its former access to the Red Sea had existed independently for centuries and should not be considered part of another country’s territorial integrity.

Ethiopia has the right to review the fundamental decisions made under that agreement and to challenge those based on colonial-era arrangements, he said, adding that a comprehensive international legal study be undertaken, incorporating international customary law to affirm Ethiopia’s right secure.

Temesgen Walelegn, a policy and strategy researcher at the Ministry of Transport and Logistics, on his part also stated that Ethiopia has been geopolitically isolated from the sea for over three decades, an isolation that has significantly constrained its economic competitiveness.

Recalling that this situation has placed pressure on Ethiopia’s role in the global import–export system and hindered the progress of major national projects, Temesgen underscored, adding that Ethiopia must have multiple ports that could service in supporting the country’s growing economy and expanding logistics sector.