Ethiopia: From Strategic Asset to Regional Fault Line – Djibouti At Crossroads of Red Sea Power Struggle

Addis Abeba — For three decades, Djibouti’s political economy rested on a simple model: Ethiopia needed Djibouti’s ports, and Djibouti needed Ethiopia’s trade. Around that relationship, President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh’s government built a model based on ports, foreign military bases, strategic infrastructure, and external financing. That arrangement transformed one of Africa’s smallest states into one of its most strategically important.

However, the foundations beneath that model are shifting….