During a recent interview in September, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stated that the Red Sea belonged to Ethiopia 30 years and ago, and that it would be theirs again. Prime Minister Abiy goes on to imply that due to Ethiopia’s size and internal needs, full control of the sea must be retained. The underlying implications of these statements are particularly important as they falsify history and undermine Eritrea’s rights of ownership to its borders and ports.

Recently, The Economist published an article called “Africa’s most secretive dictatorship faces an existential crisis.” In this article, the author, Economist correspondent Tom Gardner, pins any and all issues Eritrea faces on its leader, Isaias Afewerki, and his personal vendettas with Ethiopian leadership. The problem with this argument, however, is that it is selectively historical – it picks and chooses which historical events to include to frame Eritrea’s current predicament; Gardner fails to situate Eritrea’s position in the geopolitical milieu that have produced its diplomatic issues. Below, I outline the necessary historical information to truly understand the problems that plague the Horn of Africa and threaten national Eritrean sovereignty, specifically.