As renewed fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region threatens to destabilize the Horn of Africa, public backing by the United Arab Emirates of Ethiopia’s federal government and Saudi Arabia’s record of regional diplomacy are drawing scrutiny, according to Al Jazeera.
Both Gulf powers have strategic interests in the Horn of Africa, but their roles differ. Al Jazeera reported that the UAE has publicly backed Ethiopia’s government while Saudi Arabia has previously helped broker an Ethiopia-Eritrea rapprochement and was reported to have offered to mediate between the two countries in 2025.
Background
According to Al Jazeera, the renewed fighting threatens to unravel the November 2022 Pretoria peace agreement, which ended a war between Ethiopia’s federal government and Tigrayan forces. As tensions with Eritrea add to the risks of a wider confrontation, the positions of Abu Dhabi and Riyadh offer a window into the interests of external powers in the crisis.
Al Jazeera noted that on September 25, the UAE condemned attacks by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and its allied armed groups against Ethiopian federal forces, the seizure of airports in Tigray, and the escalation in the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara. Sheikh Shakhboot bin Nahyan Al Nahyan, the UAE minister of state, expressed solidarity with Ethiopia’s government and people, reaffirmed support for the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and called for an end to hostilities, the protection of civilians, and adherence to the Pretoria Agreement, as reported by Al Jazeera.
The UAE also maintains commercial interests across the Horn of Africa. Al Jazeera reported that Dubai Ports World operates the Berbera port in Somaliland, and a shipping route launched in 2025 connects the port with Jebel Ali in the UAE, providing an additional corridor for cargo serving inland destinations such as Ethiopia. Landlocked since Eritrea’s independence in 1993, Ethiopia relies heavily on Djibouti for access to international trade.
Why it matters
For observers in Pakistan and across the wider international community, developments in the Horn of Africa highlight the complex interplay between regional commerce, diplomatic engagements, and external power interests in stabilizing conflict-prone areas. According to Al Jazeera, commercial links help explain Abu Dhabi’s interest in regional stability and its relationship with Addis Ababa, though the extent to which external actors can influence military calculations remains a subject of ongoing evaluation.