The recent statements by Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, openly declaring that his country “needs” a sea port and threatening to use force if one is not given, are deeply alarming.
These are not mere political words; they are direct violations of international law and of the very principles on which the African Union (AU) was founded.
Under the African Union’s Constitutive Act:
- Article 3(b) states that one of the AU’s objectives is “to defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of its Member States.”
- Article 4(a) affirms “sovereign equality and interdependence among Member States.”
- Article 4(f) further upholds “the prohibition of the use of force or threat to use force among Member States.”
Under the United Nations Charter:
- Article 2(4) forbids “the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”
No justification, whether economic, geographic, or historical, can legitimise the use of force to seize another country’s territory.
Such an act would be a grave breach of international law and a betrayal of Africa’s collective commitment to peace and self-determination.
Ethiopia’s threats to seize Eritrea’s Assab port by force are not only a danger to Eritrea but a grave threat to the entire Horn of Africa, risking renewed instability, mass displacement, and bloodshed in a region that has already endured far too much suffering.
The African Union’s Responsibility
The African Union, whose headquarters sit in Addis Ababa, has a moral and legal obligation to condemn the Ethiopian leader’s threats and to reaffirm the inviolability of every Member State’s sovereignty.
If Ethiopia, as the AU’s host country, refuses to respect the Constitutive Act, then the Union must consider relocating its headquarters to a nation that truly upholds its founding principles of peace, justice, and respect for borders.
The AU cannot remain silent while one of its own members, and its host, undermines the very values that bind Africa together.
For Peace, Justice, and African Unity
No leader has the right to threaten another nation’s sovereignty.
The law is clear, aggression is a crime, not a strategy.
The people of the Horn deserve peace, dignity, and progress, not another war driven by ambition.
Let wisdom prevail over pride, and peace triumph over power.
Read the full African Union Constitutive Act here: https://au.int/sites/default/files/pages/34873-file-constitutiveact_en.pdf
Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (HRCE)
