Ethiopia: We will build naval military bases overlooking the Bab al-Mandab Strait
English - Thursday 03 June 2021 الساعة 01:56 pm
NewsYemen, agencies:
Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Dina Al-Mufti, announced, on Wednesday, his country's intention to establish military bases overlooking the southern Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Mufti said during a press conference, in Addis Ababa, that "different countries are showing interest in controlling the Red Sea region by establishing more military bases than ever before."
He added that his country pays great attention to this issue, noting that the situation is changing in the region, describing it as "worrying."
And the Ethiopian media had revealed earlier, quoting sources in the Ethiopian Navy, that it was actually preparing to start establishing and implementing a military base, which is considered its first on the coast of Djibouti.
According to the sources, the Ethiopian Navy will be stationed on the coast of Djibouti, overlooking the Strait of Aden, while the command of the base, and the headquarters of the Navy, will be in the capital of the Amhara region, Bahir Dar, northwest of Ethiopia, under the command of Brigadier General Kendo Gezo.
An Ethiopian military delegation visited the coast of Djibouti, reviewed the coastal areas north of the Gulf of Tajoura in Djibouti, and visited the coastal town of Obikh, near which the base is supposed to be.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abi Ahmed, also visited Djibouti and met with the Djiboutian President, Ismail Omar Guelleh. In October, the presence of the military base in the country was discussed, according to the “Somalia” website.
Ethiopia and France signed their first military cooperation agreement in March of this year, an agreement that includes helping Ethiopia (a landlocked country in building naval forces) as Paris seeks to strengthen economic relations with Africa's second most populous country.
Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi made his first visit to Djibouti in late May, which the Egyptian presidency described as “historic,” during which he held a joint summit with President Omar Guelleh, to discuss security, military and economic cooperation between the two countries.
According to the summit’s joint statement, the discussions focused on important regional files, including the situation in East Africa and the Horn of Africa, cooperation in the security of the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Renaissance Dam negotiations.
The Ethiopian announcement confirms the continuation of the plan to establish military bases overlooking the Red Sea at the height of the escalating dispute between the downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan, and Ethiopia, over the rules for filling and operating the Renaissance Dam, following the failure of all rounds of negotiations between the three parties to reach an agreement on them.
Control of the entrance to the Red Sea
And about the danger of the tendency to establish military bases for Ethiopia, which is a country that does not overlook the sea and in an area overlooking the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the vital artery for global navigation.. Strategic analyst, Samir Ragheb, says that “Ethiopia is one of the heavyweight countries in the Horn of Africa, and this influence and weight have increased in the century.” Africa depends on having a sea port."
Ragheb considered that "Ethiopia's lack of naval presence is deficient in favor of the countries of the Horn of Africa or countries that have bases, or that are thinking of building bases there, such as Turkey and Iran, which are looking for bases... and they exist to increase the geostrategic and geopolitical weight."
Ragheb reveals in a statement to “Sputnik” that “the first priority for Ethiopia is to control the entrances to the Red Sea or prevent someone else from controlling it, and this is what it focuses on, because the Red Sea is a giant Arab lake, and it sends a message; if the Arabs control the sea.” On the east bank, the west bank is African-Ethiopian.”
The issue of the existence and change of the marine equation
Ragheb added, "Egypt is the largest Arab power in the region, and it is referred to as the force capable of controlling the Red Sea from its southern and northern entrances. It is an issue of existence and a change in the maritime equation."
Samir Ragheb concludes by saying, "Ethiopia, with its new rule, says: I am here, I am developing my naval and air capabilities."
