East Africa: Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia Meet to Discuss Tensions and Unresolved Issues in the Horn of Africa

El Alamein — As geopolitical tensions and internal conflicts continue to shake the Horn of Africa, the presidents of Egypt, Somalia and Eritrea, together with the head of Sudan's Transitional Council, met in El Alamein on Sunday, 4 October, to discuss the main challenges facing the region.

The meeting reaffirmed a number of positions shared by the four countries, both regarding their domestic and regional situation.

At the end of the meeting, a brief statement was issued reaffirming a set of principles intended to ease tensions and prevent further conflicts: respect for sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, as established under international law; respect for Sudan's territorial integrity and support for its institutions; respect for Somalia's territorial integrity and support for its fight against terrorism; respect for freedom of navigation in the Red Sea; and cooperation in the exploitation of river waters, particularly those of the Nile.

The final statement also made clear the four participating countries' positions on issues that were not explicitly included on the agenda. These include Ethiopia's regional political activism and the role that Somaliland - a self-proclaimed state in the northern part of Somalia - is seeking to carve out for itself.

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Ethiopia is undoubtedly at the top of the concerns shared by the four leaders attending the summit. A key issue involving Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan is the operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), built on the Nile and completed in 2015. Cairo has strongly criticized the project, arguing that it could reduce Egypt's access to the river's waters. In a country where most of the population is concentrated along the Nile, access to its waters is one of Egypt's foremost regional concerns.

For Sudan, the summit's concluding statement represents a measure of political support at the regional level, particularly for the Transitional Council, which, amid the civil war, is aligned with the Sudanese Armed Forces. In this context, Sudan's Transitional Council has accused the Ethiopian government of supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an allegation rejected by Addis Ababa. For Eritrea, meanwhile, the issue is linked to the recent outbreak of conflict in Tigray. The two countries are currently engaged in hostilities, with Eritrea allied with Tigrayan militias and other local armed groups.

For Somalia, the support received during the summit serves to reaffirm that efforts by Somaliland to secede will not receive backing from countries in the region. Here, too, however, Ethiopia's position is a source of concern. Addis Ababa has for years sought access to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, access that has so far been guaranteed by Djibouti. For Ethiopia, gaining access to the port of Berbera, the facility identified as a potential gateway to the Gulf of Aden, would offer an opportunity to diversify its routes to the sea and establish an alternative to its existing access through Djibouti.

This interest in the infrastructure in Somaliland makes relations between Ethiopia and Somalia somewhat tense, as it is interpreted as direct support for Somaliland's secessionist demands.

The summit reaffirmed several areas in which the four countries' interests converge, but it cannot yet be regarded as the beginnings of an alliance. Such a development could take shape only in response to a potential and alarming deterioration in the region's overall security situation, as the conflicts already plaguing the area could converge, further destabilizing the entire region.