Egypt’s Proxy Wars Against Ethiopia: A History of Defeats Revisited

By Staff Writer

Since the emergence of its modern state, Egypt has never been a loyal neighbor or a sincere partner in the Nile Basin. Instead, it has consistently acted according to the logic of a colonial power seeking to subjugate Ethiopia and impose an empty form of guardianship over its resources and future. The record of successive Egyptian governments is filled with disappointments and sinister conspiracies aimed at obstructing the development of the Ethiopian people and depriving them of their natural right to development. Yet all these schemes have repeatedly shattered against the solid rock of Ethiopian sovereignty and its proud history.

The early ambitions of the Egyptian regime became evident in the 1870s, when Cairo followed Khedive Ismail’s dream of establishing a vast empire at the expense of Ethiopian blood and rights. The Egyptian regime dispatched two massive, heavily armed military campaigns toward the rugged Ethiopian highlands, only to face a devastating Ethiopian response. At the Battle of Gundet in 1875, the Egyptian army suffered its first crushing blow of arrogance at the hands of Ethiopian heroes, resulting in the complete collapse of the invading forces.

The Battle of Gura in 1876 was an even greater defeat, as the Egyptian army was virtually annihilated and hundreds of its soldiers were captured under the blows of Ethiopian forces. The remnants of the Khedive’s army fled, leaving behind the enduring disgrace of defeat. These resounding historical blows demonstrated to Egypt that it was far weaker than Ethiopia in direct confrontation, prompting it to retreat into political cowardice and turn submissively toward shadow warfare and proxy wars.

Egypt did not content itself with the bitterness of military defeat. It subsequently revealed an overtly colonial face in the aftermath of the Second World War. When Egypt was among those opposing, within the corridors of the United Nations, the return of Eritrea to Ethiopia, the international community rejected its ambitions and issued a decision in 1952 establishing a federation between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Because Egypt never accepted a strong or stable Ethiopia, it quickly moved to undermine and dismantle the federal arrangement from within by adopting policies aimed at fracturing Ethiopia’s social fabric.

 

With President Gamal Abdel Nasser coming to power in the mid-1950s, Egypt officially became a principal host of the Eritrean rebellion and a major financier of separatist movements. The Eritrean Liberation Front was established and used the Egyptian capital as a principal base for its activities beginning in July 1960, receiving comprehensive financial, logistical, and training support to fracture the territorial unity of northern Ethiopia.

Egypt did not stop there.

A massive media apparatus, particularly the Voice of the Arabs radio station, was mobilized to broadcast messages of fragmentation, inflame divisions, and attempt to strategically suffocate Ethiopia from its maritime flank. This systematic support continued for decades with the aim of tying Ethiopia’s hands and keeping it preoccupied with exhausting internal conflicts that would obstruct any genuine path to development.

The conspiracies did not stop at supporting armed groups. They extended into the corridors of international and financial organizations through questionable means, using Egyptian influence in an attempt to economically subjugate Ethiopia.

 In this context, the controversial role of prominent Egyptian figures such as Boutros Boutros-Ghali stands out. Boutros-Ghali, a former Egyptian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs who later became Secretary-General of the United Nations, used Egyptian diplomacy to impose a suffocating financial blockade and arbitrarily deny Ethiopia international loans and financing from the World Bank and major financial institutions for infrastructure projects and dams on the Aba (Nile River), in a desperate attempt to entrench unilateral colonial dominance.

Recent regional developments reveal growing risks from Egypt’s efforts to form a coordinated front against Ethiopia’s rise. The quadrilateral summit hosted by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in New Alamein on October 4, 2026, with the participation of Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea, has raised concerns that Cairo is seeking to intensify regional pressure on Ethiopia under the guise of security cooperation.

The summit’s focus on Nile waters, Red Sea security, and coordination among governments raises serious questions about the strategic objectives of this alignment. These moves come amid Egypt and Eritrea are supporting anati-peace forces seeking to destabilize the country.

The convergence of diplomatic pressure, regional military coordination, and allegations of support for armed groups poses risks as Ethiopia pursues its development ambitions and seeks reliable sea access through dialogue. Rather than accepting Ethiopia’s growing economic and strategic influence as a reality requiring constructive engagement, Egypt risks deepening regional divisions and undermining stability in the Horn of Africa. Yet no summit or political alignment can erase Ethiopia’s sovereign interests or derail the aspirations of its people to strengthen the country’s standing and influence across Africa.

All in all, decades of carefully orchestrated conspiracies, proxy wars, and attempts at diplomatic and economic isolation have only made Ethiopia more resilient, self-reliant, and strong. Throughout history, the courageous Ethiopian people and their leadership have demonstrated that the will of free people can overcome all forms of hostility and disguised guardianship.

Ethiopia’s continued advance today in its major national development projects, driven by the efforts of its own people, represents the greatest rebuke and decisive response that permanently shatters the illusions of Egyptian dominance and affirms that Ethiopian sovereignty is a red line that cannot be violated. Ethiopia’s recent sovereign measures are fully consistent with this historical approach. On October 1 of this year, Ethiopia took a decisive decision to close its embassy in Asmara and declared ten Eritrean diplomats persona non grata, giving them 48 hours to leave the country, following their involvement in activities deemed to pose a direct threat to Ethiopia’s national security and in escalating hostile acts.

On the same day, Ethiopia declared Egyptian diplomat Ahmed Moharam Ahmed Suleiman persona non grata and also demanded that he leave the country within 48 hours.

These firm sovereign measures are nothing more than the natural outcome and direct response to Egypt’s continued policies of using Eritrea as a proxy to destabilize the Horn of Africa, in a desperate attempt to obstruct Ethiopia’s progress as it continues to flourish and grow into an emerging diplomatic, economic, and military power firmly rooted in the African continent.