The political situation in the Horn of Africa continues to be dominated by tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea . Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed leaves little doubt about this: During a television appearance earlier this week, he emphasized that it is "not feasible at any time" to continue viewing Ethiopia as a landlocked country.

The country lost its access to the Red Sea when Eritrea gained independence in 1993 after decades of war. Initially, an agreement allowed Ethiopia to import goods duty-free through the Eritrean port of Assab.

But a renewed border conflict in the late 1990s ended this arrangement.…