Birr Metrics graphic summarising Ethiopia's 5 October 2026 Foreign Ministry statement linking Nile and Red Sea interests to geography (Birr Metrics / @birrmetrics, via X)
Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that any discussion of the Abay River or the Red Sea must account for Ethiopia’s geography and legitimate national interests.
The statement came a day after Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan declared in New Alamein that Red Sea governance belongs only to coastal states and rejected unilateral measures that harm downstream Nile use. The ministry did not name the four countries.
Ethiopia is the source of the Abay, or Blue Nile, which supplies about 85 percent of the Nile’s water, the ministry said, according to ChimpReports. “Any discussion concerning the utilisation and management of the Abay River should be informed by these fundamental realities,” it said. On the sea, it said Ethiopia’s nearest border lies barely 30 miles from the coast, and that “any serious discussion of regional maritime affairs and security architecture must account for Ethiopia’s legitimate interests.”
Geographic and historical facts cannot be changed by political rhetoric, coercion or destabilization, the ministry said, adding that Ethiopia stands ready to defend its sovereignty and urging dialogue over confrontation, the Ethiopian News Agency reported.
Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel rejected the statement on X, saying Ethiopia already has commercial access to regional ports. Eritrea has said Ethiopian talk of access to Assab threatens its sovereignty, while Somalia’s president has said commercial port use is possible if negotiated with Mogadishu.
Landlocked since Eritrea’s independence in 1993, Ethiopia moves about 96.7 percent of its maritime cargo through Djibouti, according to Ministry of Transport figures reported by Birr Metrics. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has made reliable sea access a standing priority. Egypt and Sudan want a binding agreement on the operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Ethiopia says it has the right to use fairly.
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