Nairobi (WDN) — Somalia, Ethiopia, Yemen and Djibouti have held a two-day meeting in Nairobi focused on strengthening maritime security across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, a strategic corridor vital to regional and global trade.

The meeting, organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) with support from the European Union, INTERPOL, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and IGAD, addressed piracy, illegal fishing, human trafficking, migrant smuggling and drug trafficking, as well as the need for greater intelligence-sharing and coordination among regional security agencies. But the participation of Ethiopia—a landlocked country—stands out.

Reports indicate that Eritrea declined to attend, objecting to Ethiopia’s participation which implied that Ethiopia was being considered among the Red Sea countries, while Somalia attended the meeting.

Addis Ababa argues that maritime security is directly connected to its economic survival. The overwhelming majority of Ethiopia’s international trade depends on access through Djibouti’s ports, meaning instability in the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden can raise transport and insurance costs, disrupt supply chains and delay critical imports and exports.

That economic dependence gives Ethiopia a legitimate interest in the security of regional maritime trade routes. But its participation also carries broader strategic significance at a time when Addis Ababa has repeatedly emphasized its determination to secure reliable and potentially diversified access to the sea.

Ethiopian officials called for stronger cooperation among maritime-security institutions and coast guard authorities in Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti and Yemen, including the creation of mechanisms for sharing intelligence on maritime threats.

The proposal raises an important distinction: economic dependence on maritime routes is not the same as sovereignty over maritime territory. Ethiopia’s landlocked status gives it a strong economic interest in the uninterrupted movement of goods, but it does not give Addis Ababa territorial rights over the waters or coastlines of neighboring states.

For Somalia, this distinction is particularly important. Somalia possesses one of the longest coastlines in Africa and occupies a strategically critical position along the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. Any regional maritime-security framework involving Somalia therefore intersects with questions of sovereignty, fisheries, foreign military activity and control of maritime resources.

The Nairobi meeting nevertheless reflects a growing reality: maritime insecurity no longer affects only coastal states. Piracy, illicit trafficking, terrorism and disruption of shipping routes can rapidly generate economic consequences far inland. For Ethiopia, whose economy is heavily dependent on external ports, instability at sea can become an economic crisis on land.

For Somalia, however, the challenge is more profound. Its strategic coastline is simultaneously a national asset, a security responsibility and an increasingly valuable geopolitical prize.

The question for Mogadishu is therefore not whether Ethiopia has an economic interest in maritime security—it clearly does. The more consequential question is whether Somalia can participate in emerging regional maritime-security arrangements from a position of institutional strength, ensuring that cooperation protects Somali sovereignty and marine resources rather than creating new avenues for external influence.

As competition intensifies around the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, Somalia’s coastline is likely to attract growing attention from regional and global powers. The Nairobi meeting is another reminder that what happens at sea is increasingly inseparable from the political and economic future of the Horn of Africa.

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