For almost three decades, Ethiopia had no navy and remained landlocked. The importance of establishing a strong naval force has been part of the national reform program in the defense sector.In June 2018, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called for the eventual reconstitution of the Ethiopian Navy as part of a wider program of security sector reforms, saying that “we should build our naval force capacity in the future.”
In March 2019, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed signed defense accords with France including on support in establishing a naval component but unfortunately scrapped the agreement as part of an unjustified sanction on Ethiopia over the conflict in Tigray.
However, Ethiopia did not lack a trusted friendly country that was ready to support its efforts in restoration of the Ethiopian navy to its original glory. In July 2021, Russia and Ethiopia on Monday signed a military cooperation agreement, according to local media reports.
The agreement came at the conclusion of three days of deliberations held as part of the military technical cooperation forum in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. More than ever, Ethiopia is now ready to inaugurate its own naval force very soon. Russia is also a staunch supporter of Ethiopia’s positions at the UN followed by China, India and a host of African sister countries.
Indeed, history vividly indicates that once Ethiopia had the strongest naval force on the Red Sea during the reign of the Axumite Empire.
The late Professor Sergew Hableselassie a renowned scholar and Ethiopianist quotes William H Schoff who wrote the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describing the existence of a shipyard and thousands of ships that were under the custody of King Kaleb who made an expedition to Yemen around circa 520 in bid to control the coastal areas of the Red Sea and the Red Sea route. Historical facts and remains from those dates indicate that under King Kaleb Ethiopia had the greatest naval fleet on the shore of the Red Sea.
Repeated expedition into the Red Sea area by various European empires in the later centuries and the increase in the rivalry among the powers of those days including Greek, Ottoman Turks and a number of European powers who infiltrated into the Horn of Africa forced Ethiopian kings of those periods to lose their hegemony on the Red Sea.
The Imperial Ethiopian Navy established four bases: Massawa was the site of the naval headquarters and enlisted training facilities; the naval air station and naval academy were at Asmara; Assab was the site of a naval station, enlisted training facilities, and a repair dock; and there was a naval station and communications station on the Dahlak Islands in the Red Sea near Massawa.
During the Derge regime, the Ethiopian Navy was reoriented toward the Soviet Union. Officers continued to train in Ethiopia, but selected naval officers continued their studies at the Soviet naval academy in Leningrad and at Baku. After the Soviet Union was expelled from Somalia for supporting Ethiopia against Somalia in the Ogaden War in 1978, it established naval bases at Assab and on the Dahlak Islands and began to base Soviet Naval Aviation aircraft at Asmara International Airport; in addition, Soviet naval personnel took posts as instructors at the Ethiopian naval academy. Enlisted men continued to train at Massawa and served a seven-year enlistment. In 1982, the Ethiopian Navy had about 1,500 personnel.
The Ethiopian Civil War and Eritrean War of Independence both ended in 1991 soon after the fall of Assab, and Eritrea became independent, leaving Ethiopia landlocked. The Ethiopian Navy remained in existence, left in the curious and unusual position of having no home ports. Nonetheless, directed by its headquarters in Addis Ababa, it continued occasional patrols in the Red Sea from ports in Yemen. In 1993, Yemen finally expelled the Ethiopian ships; by then some had deteriorated too much to be seaworthy, and the Ethiopians left them behind in Yemen. Ethiopia had become a hulk after arriving in Yemen in 1991 and was sold for scrap in 1993; other Ethiopian ships were also scrapped or scuttled.
Those ships which could get underway from Yemen in 1993 moved to Djibouti. For a time it was thought that the Ethiopian Navy might survive, based at Assab in Eritrea or at Djibouti, and Ethiopia even requested that Eritrea lease it pier space at Assab from which to operate the surviving Ethiopian Navy.
Later in 1996, the Ethiopian Navy’s headquarters in Addis Ababa disbanded, and the Ethiopian Navy ceased to exist.
Ethiopia’s navy will be based in Djibouti Capital sources indicate. The Ethiopian navy is established under the backdrop of the unprecedented rivalry in terms of acquisition of ports and naval base. This is critical for Ethiopia’s safety and security as well us ascertaining stability and peace on the Horn of Africa.
On the other hand, Ethiopia is expected to ensure the safety of its commercial ships that frequent the Red Sea and the surrounding sea trade routines against sea piracy on its fleet of ship.
Nonetheless, some of the neighboring countries that are already attempting to destabilize the country by providing support to a consortium of terrorist forces led by TPLF are also busy trying to isolate Ethiopia by seeking naval bases on the Red Sea coast by establishing alliances that exclude Ethiopia.
Besides, as more than 90 percent of the Ethiopian export and import trade is conducted through the Port of Djibouti, it is important for the country to have a strong naval base on the Red Sea possibly in Djibouti.
The Ethiopian Government is already consulting with a number of friendly countries on how to strengthen is naval force as part of a national defense program of the country.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
BY SOLOMON DIBABA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 5 APRIL 2022
