Addis and Riyadh reaffirm priorities at a critical regional moment

Across the Red Sea, history has always travelled faster than politics. Long before borders, treaties or modern diplomacy, the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula were bound by faith, trade and survival. Today, as global power fractures and regional orders are rewritten, that ancient corridor is again becoming one of the most consequential strategic spaces on earth.  At its centre sit Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia—two states shaped by deep history, demographic weight and civilisational confidence, now cautiously rediscovering one another in a moment that could redefine the future of the Horn of Africa and its relationship with the Gulf. The Red Sea carries close to 15 per cent of global trade and nearly a third of the world’s container […]