Joanna Lumley OBE talks with Mulugeta Asrate Kassa Ethiopian embassy official

How regional war, electoral consolidation, diaspora uprising, and conflicting visions of national identity threaten to unravel the Horn of Africa’s oldest continuous state The Agaezi National Union Party’s perspective, articulated from within diaspora and intellectual circles, represents one such competing vision. The ANU’s analysis emphasises what it terms the “Geez Civilisation” and argues that the separation of Eritrea from Ethiopia constituted a catastrophic historical fragmentation engineered through foreign intervention and facilitated by TPLF-EPLF collaboration that should be characterised as treason against the greater Geez national project.

It is with considerable gratitude that the Ethiopian Tribune presents the final instalment of Dr. Mefkereseb G. Hailu’s four-part analytical series on the Abraham Accords and their implications for Ethiopian sovereignty, geopolitical positioning, and national strategy. Over the past months, this series has established itself as the most rigorous and unflinching examination of the architecture reshaping the Gulf–Red Sea–Horn region—combining legal-historical analysis, strategic assessment, and an uncompromising focus on the conditions required for Ethiopian agency. This final instalment, “Assab, Sovereignty, and the Endgame,” moves beyond architecture into operational reality. It addresses what Parts 1–3 have prepared: the political, military, and diplomatic conditions under which Ethiopian sovereignty is recovered; the enduring legal foundations on which that recovery stands; the closing strategic window that demands urgent action; and the binary choice that now confronts the Ethiopian state and people.

South Africa’s government has taken strong positions on global conflicts, including: Filing a genocide case against Israel Condemning Western governments for selective outrage Positioning itself as a moral voice of the Global South A nation cannot preach justice abroad while tolerating injustice at home.

What happened: Ethiopia’s political history shows a pattern of democratic language used to mask authoritarian rule. This trend is not unique to Ethiopia and serves as a warning about the fragility of democratic systems worldwide.
Why it matters: Understanding how democratic institutions can erode and be exploited by authoritarian actors is crucial for preserving democratic values and preventing democratic backsliding.
Key details:
• Ethiopia’s political regimes have all used democratic language despite authoritarian practices.
• Weimar Republic’s collapse into Nazism serves as a historical example of democratic erosion.
• Contemporary risks include the rise of far-right parties like the Sweden Democrats and democratic backsliding in countries like the United States and Hungary.
• Democratic fragility can be exacerbated by economic hardship, political polarisation, and misinformation.
• Preserving democracy requires strong institutions, public trust, and a commitment to democratic norms

EDITOR’S FORWARD: PART 3 — ETHIOPIA’S INTERNAL CONSTRAINT The third instalment of Mefkereseb G. Hailu’s analysis arrives at the moment when Ethiopia’s strategic arithmetic becomes most urgent and most brutal. Parts 1 and 2 traced the architecture that has created, paradoxically, the most favourable external environment Ethiopia has faced in its modern history—the convergence of… Read more: The Abraham Accords: The Force Re‑shaping the Gulf–Red Sea–Horn Energy & Geopolitical Architecture (Part III)