While we reach the end of 2024 we can reflect on a series of important diplomatic developments that has characterized the country. It is well known that Ethiopia has made it clear to all that have a stake in the Horn of Africa that it cannot afford to live as a landlocked country with more than 120 million people most of whom are young.
It is a country that needs to grow faster than the pace of population growth and sooner or later the current atmosphere of its economic situation does not guarantee reliability unless it finds ways of expanding its international trade and make it fast. Consequently, it has proposed to its neighbors who have thousands of kilometers of land that are adjacent to the sea to make a deal with it in a diplomatic and give and take formula.
It has proposed that it is ready to negotiate on the terms of a potential agreement with any nation that is willing to do that in a mutually beneficial condition.
The fact that Ethiopia gets the opportunity to expand its economy in a very profitable manner by restricting its unnecessary excessive expenditure for hiring any port, will open the door for more intensive and advantageous relationship with its neighbors in the region. That would potentially stimulate the growth of the economies of all the countries involved in these commercial and trading transactions.
The long plan of the African Union Commission to realize the Agenda 2063 will have one step into the right direction by promoting regional integration such as what Ethiopia is planning. It is known that another factor in this respect is the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, GERD, which is about to open a new chapter of economic cooperation by supplying easily accessible, cheap and clean hydropower to the region.
All east African countries can benefit from this circumstance beside its contribution to the struggle to contain climate change by encouraging the use of clean energy and the contribution it has in expanding the green environment the damming of the river Nile results in. Soil erosion would be limited and there will be more expansion of greenery in the region. Ethiopia’s famous program of the Green Legacy Initiative has been inspiring other nations to do the same and it has also supplied millions of tree seedlings to be planted in the subregion. For this, environmentalists have praised Ethiopia’s exemplary move that has been in vigor since more than five years ago.
Ethiopia has a profound tradition of living with its neighbors respecting their sovereignty and territorial integrity since time immemorial and it also known that it has never invaded any country except when aggressors encroach on its borders or try to outright invade it. It is the duty and prerogative of any sovereign nation to be totally committed to defend its interests and prevent that its territory be subject to any sort of aggression.
It believes in peace and it has always contributed to peace keeping and smooth diplomatic relations with any country be it neighbors or those that are distant and for that it has built a shining reputation. Ethiopia’s engagements in every peace move to which it has been solicited by the UN or the AU has been fulfilled successfully. And this has helped it deserve the gratitude and respect of everybody which has benefited from its services.
Ethiopian troops have served in a number of peace keeping missions in various parts of the world where there was need across the decades including the mission in the Korean conflict in the nineteen fifties and the Congo mission during the Katanga crisis in 1960. Ethiopian troops have also contributed their share in missions in Liberia, Rwanda, Sudan and most recently in Somalia. It has sacrificed many troops in Somalia’s efforts to fight the radical group of Al Shabaab which is considered a terrorist organization by the international community and associated with the notorious Al Qaida group.
Ethiopia’s position in the Horn of Africa makes it a key country that has crucial interest not only in terms security but also economically. Its gate to the outside world is linked to its access to the sea. That is why it cannot afford to be disinterested in any thing that happens there just as the other nations that claim the same interest. The Government of Ethiopia has been working on this issue as a matter of necessity and an imperative to its very survival. That is why it has made its plan to have access to the sea with its neighbors in a voluntary and diplomatic manner.
The propaganda that certain nations have been engaged with to tarnish the image and reputation of Ethiopia as a potential aggressor and one that tries to colonize others is unfounded and baseless. The history of Ethiopia has ample evidence to the opposite and those who accuse Ethiopia of being a threat to subregion’s peace know that they are only trying to control the area by excluding Ethiopia from the right to access the sea based on international principles and traditional practice.
We have seen lots of negative propaganda on the part of certain nations who have gone to extent of accusing Ethiopia of trying to invade a sovereign country. Of course this is baseless and the Ethiopian government has made it clear to the international community. Those who claim to have a stake in what is going on in the Horn of Africa should not be surprised to know that sooner or later Ethiopia will assert its right to access to the sea in a peaceful and diplomatic manner. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) has made a solemn declaration that Ethiopia would try to secure access to the sea through peaceful and diplomatic means and in no other ways.
He explained that the population pressure in Ethiopia and the consequent economic response cannot be answered without it having access to sea because its development would otherwise be limited or constrained. That would in turn become an unavoidable threat to the peace, security and stability of the entire subregion.
The push effect that develops in the country due to the scarce possibility of full employment for the millions of youths every year grow will result in a kind of exodus that would be too hard to manage. There are already millions of Africans and people from other not developed countries or people in conflict areas that have been flocking to the outside world particularly to Europe across the deadly trip through the Mediterranean Sea and to the US across the toilsome and risky Mexican border.
More millions of migrants coming out of Ethiopia and the neighboring countries could be a probable scenario and the potential for further destabilization of the subregion cannot not to be excluded.
The only solution to this challenge is the sustained growth of all the countries that contribute to the exodus of migrants to the western world. This must constitute a concern to all. The Ethiopian government has made its stance clear. It has spoken loudly and clearly. There are no alternatives to Ethiopia having access to sea and it intends to do it diplomatically and peacefully not by the use of force. It condemns and warns that the interference of countries that have nothing to do with what is happening between Somalia and Ethiopia should refrain from encroaching on the vital interest of the Horn of Africa. Any negative propaganda against Ethiopia’s legitimate interests, any intimidating campaigns against the Ethiopian government will not be acceptable.
Ethiopia is a peace loving country with a glorious reputation for working for the advancement of peace in Somalia and elsewhere by making enormous sacrifices. This has been admitted and recognized by the government of Shiek Mahmoud of Somalia when the Ankara Declaration was signed between Ethiopia and Somalia with the mediation of the president of Turkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
This agreement has been considered as a huge achievement for the diplomatic efforts of Ethiopia in its bid to access to sea. This would not have been successful if what Ethiopia is asking was considered as unacceptable and hence with no relevance to the Horn and beyond.
On the contrary, many countries in the international community have acknowledged Ethiopia’s pleas and stance and one of the results is the intervention of Turkiye to mediate between the two nations. It has also been announced that President Erdogan will soon pay a working visit to both Ethiopia and Somalia to further advance the details of the agreement. This declaration is clearly in the interest of all nations with a stake on the Horn and an example for other countries who try to deal with their neighbors peacefully using diplomatic means rather than force and pushing the continent to further chaos and instability.
Africa has already enough of its conflict zones and millions are already fleeing unsustainable conditions, and the tragic example of Sudan’s internal woes are evident. It is naturally a sad development and it needs to be stopped and not create another conflict in the Horn. Ethiopia is striving to do its part in any way possible because it realizes that as long as there is no peace in any part of its neighboring countries, there will not be peace at home as well.
The African integration that we seek to achieve cannot be implemented or realized by the multiplication of conflict areas. Rather the contrary and Ethiopia’s efforts to iron out its disputes or discrepancies through acts such as the Ankara Declaration must be considered as a success to Ethiopia’s diplomatic ventures and an example to be simulated by other nations.
BY FITSUM GETACHEW
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 31 DECEMBER 2024
