Eritrean President to visit Russia for the first time

Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki arrived in Moscow on May 30 for the first official visit in the history of the two countries. During the visit, he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 31, the Kremlin said. In particular, as noted there, it is planned to discuss the prospects for the development of Russian-Eritrean relations in various fields, as well as topical issues on the regional and international agenda.

In January, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Eritrea for the first time in Russian history on a tour of Africa. Afewerki has been president of the country for 30 years since it gained independence from Ethiopia.

Eritrea is located on the Red Sea near the strategically important sea route from Europe to the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal. There are five foreign military bases in neighboring Djibouti – the United States, France, Italy, China and Japan. Russia signed an agreement to establish a logistical base for its fleet in neighboring Sudan, but it was not ratified by the Sudanese, and civil war broke out again in that country in April.

The USSR at one time provided military assistance to Ethiopia in the fight against the Eritrean rebels. In return, the Soviet Navy had a convenient naval base on the Dahlak archipelago (now Eritrea) almost at the exit to the Indian Ocean. The Eritreans in 1993 achieved independence from Ethiopia, depriving it of access to the sea. In 1999–2000 There was a conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea over the disputed territory around the city of Badme. In 2018, the new Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed Ali, agreed to transfer the territory around Badme to Eritrea, for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize. Since 2020, Eritrean armed groups have been on the side of the Ethiopian army in the bloody conflict between Addis Ababa and Tigray province. In connection with the actions of the Eritrean troops, sanctions were imposed on the country by the US Treasury and the EU.

In 2010–2019 UN Security Council sanctions were imposed on the sale of weapons to Eritrea, they were carried out by Russia. Eritrea is the eighth poorest country in Africa: according to the World Bank, in 2021 the country’s GDP was $642.5 per capita. The country has a one-party political system. The leader of the country, Afewerki, the general secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Eritrea, which achieved the independence of the country, has never participated in elections. Eritrea did not vote at the UN General Assembly in 2022 for anti-Russian resolutions.

For Russia, Eritrea is a convenient logistical entry point to the continent, says Stanislav Mezentsev, senior researcher at the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Afewerka government, finding itself in isolation, refocused on China. Beijing has begun to increase investment in this country, which passes the main trade traffic between China and the EU. According to the expert, for Russia, Eritrea is a more preferable partner, including in the military sphere, than conflict-torn Sudan – the Afewerka regime is stable, and the country consistently stands on the Russian side in the UN. Eritrea is in desperate need of modernizing its transport infrastructure, so along with Chinese investment, it will not refuse Russian investment, Mezentsev concludes.