Toronto – Ethiopia reportedly urged the international Community to promote inclusive international cooperation on the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
Ethiopia raised the topic at the BRICS meeting of deputy foreign ministers and special envoys on the Middle east and North Africa. It was held between 27-28 March 2025 in Brasilia, Brazil.
Leulseged Tadese, Ethiopia’s Ambassador to Brazil, expressed Ethiopia’s concern over the inclusivity of cooperation on the Red Sea.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia cited him as saying “Ethiopia is the most populous country on the African Shore of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. In this regard, the Ambassador underlined that it is in the interest of the global community to promote inclusive international cooperation over the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.”
Egypt, which has a share over the Red Sea coast, is a BRICS member. Saudi Arabia, another country with access to the Red Sea was invited to join the BRICS but has not yet responded to it. Eritrean and Egyptian authorities recently met in Cairo. The Red sea was one of the agenda items. Egypt is advancing a stand that no country that is not in the Red Sea coastline should be allowed to be involved on the Red Sea issue. Over 10 percent of the global trade uses the Red sea ; it connects economies between Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia.
According to sources, the US, France, Japan, China, the UAE, and Turkey own military bases in the Red Sea area. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed raised this topic when he was meeting his party officials in October 2023. It was then that the relation between Eritrea and Ethiopia started to worsen.
Ethiopia used to have access to the Red Sea until Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia in 1993. There has been resentment for decades over the legality of the process that left Ethiopia landlocked. The late Meles Zenawi had to use force to suppress opposition in the country on two key points one of them was opposition to Ethiopia’s new status as a landlocked country and the other one was ethnic politics. It is noticeable that there is resentment simmering about access to the sea. Yet, Ethiopians do not seem to be interested in supporting Abiy Ahmed’s move to pursue access to the Red Sea at this point.