Horn of Africa geopolitics

The preeminent author, historian and tegadalay Alemseged Tesfai brilliantly detailed the “consistently suicidal pursuit of successive Ethiopian regimes to own Eritrea or parts thereof” in his piece titled “March of Folly Re-enacted: A Personal View“. It was published 27 years ago

Brussels is not undergoing a moral conversion. It is responding to a harsher strategic map in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea. Annette Weber, the European Union’s Special Representative for the Horn of Africa, was in Asmara this week, and the visit matters less for any dramati

The African Union Commission has appointed former Tanzanian president Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete as the AU High Representative for the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, placing a veteran East African statesman at the center of one of the continent’s most sensitive geopolitical files. Th

An opinion piece titled, "Middle East's future may be decided in the Horn of Africa : The Red Sea is becoming the centre of global power."  was published on #JerusalemPost on 15 March by Dr Shmuel Legesse . The author is an international educator, community activist, a diplomacy

Economic language is being used to normalize a far more dangerous idea: that sovereign Eritrean ports can be folded into Ethiopia’s national future as if law, borders and regional peace do not matter. The latest wave of Ethiopian regime-aligned messaging about the Red Sea follows

The African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) has issued one of its clearest sovereignty statements on Somalia in years—explicitly condemning Israel’s unilateral recognition of the “so-called Republic of Somaliland,” demanding it be revoked, and warning that no actor has the

A Regional Security Threat and Potential for Destabilisation of the Horn of Africa, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden Regions and Redrawing the Map of the Horn of Africa On December 26, 2025, the State of Israel announced its formal recognition of the Republic of Somaliland as an

Somalia’s Council of Ministers has formally terminated all bilateral security and defence agreements with the United Arab Emirates, marking one of the most consequential foreign-policy moves taken by the federal government in recent years. In a cabinet decision adopted on Sunday,

Israel’s announcement on Thursday recognizing Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state has triggered immediate diplomatic fallout across the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, reopening long-standing legal and geopolitical fault lines rather than delivering the stability

The Resurgence of an Imperial Ghost The political landscape of the Horn of Africa was jolted in late 2023 by the resurgence of a decades-old ambition emanating from Addis Ababa. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government began a concerted campaign, articulating what it framed as Ethi

Ethiopia’s Prosperity Party officials and elites have been making a flurry of claims and declarations the past few months with respect to their aspirations on the Red Sea. They use the term “sea access” to cloak their real intent of asserting control over a coastline. This obsess

Speaking on a radio show in Mbale this week, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni moved from economic complaints to open strategic language. He argued that Uganda is  “entitled”  to the Indian Ocean, using a condominium analogy: if Africa is a block of flats, he said, the compound —