Djibouti, Eritrea Reportedly Offered Port Development Deal to Egypt 

Djiboutian Ambassador to Ethiopia Held Talks with State Minister For Ministry of Foreign Affairs 

Borkena

Toronto – If the Abu Dhabi based The National’s Report is true, Ethiopia-Djibouti could further deteriorate as is the case with Eritrea. 

The source on Wednesday reported that Egypt has “agreed” to “develop” seaports in Eritrea and Djibouti. The National cited sources in Cairo as saying that  the development represents Egypt’s “campaign to increase pressure on landlocked Ethiopia over its long-running Nile water dispute.

At the time of this writing, neither Djibouti nor Eritrea confirmed if a port development deal is reached with Egypt. 

In early November this year, the Eritrean President led a delegation to Egypt for a five day working visit. Eritrea’s Minister for information disclosed that the visit was initiated by Egypt. However, details of the talks between the two countries was undisclosed. 

Earlier this week, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi told African diplomats who attended the “second Ministerial Conference of the Russia–Africa Partnership Forum” in Cairo that “his country did not make threats against Ethiopia despite disagreements.”

The two countries had disagreements over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) as Egypt pushed for maintaining a monopoly right over using the Nile River based on the 1959 agreement. Ethiopia, which was not party to the colonial era agreement, pushed equitable use of the Nile water. 

Egypt’s military presence in Somalia, as part of the African Union, was opposed by Ethiopia on grounds of national security concern. The reported port development deal in Eritrea and Djibouti is prone to get similar reaction on the part of Ethiopia.

In recent times, Ethiopia has been increasingly pushing for access to the Red Sea partly out of military insecurity concerns and partly due to secure sea access for its import and export trade. The move led to tension with Eritrea with whom Egypt signed a security alliance agreement in October 2024. 

Egypt has also agreed with Djibouti on port development. While there were some Ethiopians news sources that reported the Djiboutian Ambassador was called, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not confirm the story. 

However, in a news release published on Thursday the ministry announced State Minister Hadera Abera “received the Ambassador of the Republic of Djibouti to Ethiopia, Ambassador Abdi Mahmoud Ibe, at his office.”

What the ministry reported is that the two countries have agreed to “deepen” bilateral relations between the two countries. 

There had been reports in the past of the Djibouti plotting against Ethiopia from whom it secures over a billion dollars on a yearly basis  in port fees from the former’s import and export activity. 

It was reported after Ethiopia signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Somaliland on January 1, 2024 to secure a 20 kilometers stretch of land in exchange for recognition for statehood status and unspecified share from Ethiopian Airlines.  The agreement vanished after causing Ethiopia’s tension with Somalia which Egypt exploited to form a military agreement with Somalia. 

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