A Call for Justice and Accountability

By Justice for the Voiceless

Strategic Alignment, Military Support, and Regional Security

This week’s Reuters investigative reporting has indicated that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has played a significant political, financial, and security role in the Horn of Africa. The investigation, citing eight sources including a senior Ethiopian government official, reported that the UAE financed the construction of a facility in Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region and provided logistical assistance and training support connected to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) (Reuters, 2026). While the UAE has denied destabilizing involvement in Sudan’s conflict, the report points to expanding regional security engagement.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has repeatedly and publicly acknowledged the UAE’s support and alliance since he assumed office in 2018. Within months, the UAE committed approximately $3 billion in aid and investments, including $1 billion directed to Ethiopia’s central bank to help stabilize foreign currency reserves (Reuters, 2018). While analysts widely viewed this as the foundation of a strengthened bilateral partnership, many patriotic Ethiopians feel this was the moment their government transferred significant influence and sovereignty into the hands of the UAE.

Civilian Impact: Tigray, Sudan, Oromia, and Amhara

At the beginning of the Tigray war in November 2020, multiple international outlets reported that drone capabilities used by Ethiopian federal forces were linked to foreign suppliers, including the UAE. Although specific operational details remain debated, defense analysts broadly agree that unmanned aerial systems significantly enhanced federal military capacity during the early stages of the conflict (BBC, 2021; Reuters, 2021).

The war in Tigray formally lasted until the signing of the Pretoria Agreement in November 2022. Multiple independent assessments, including a peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet, estimated that hundreds of thousands of people died during the conflict due to direct violence, hunger, and collapse of healthcare systems (The Lancet, 2022).

Humanitarian agencies reported:
• Widespread destruction of infrastructure
• Systematic sexual violence
• Mass displacement
• Severe restrictions on banking, telecommunications, electricity, and humanitarian access
(UN OCHA, 2023; Human Rights Watch, 2023).

Millions were internally displaced. Starvation conditions were documented during extended humanitarian blockades when fuel, cash, medical supplies, and food were severely restricted.

The Pretoria Agreement aimed to restore:
• Federal sovereignty and constitutional order
• Territorial integrity
• Return of internally displaced persons
• Restoration of services
• Disarmament and reintegration
• Political dialogue
(African Union, 2023).

The lack of government interest in fully implementing the Pretoria Agreement demonstrates concerns about constitutional obligations, human rights protections, and moral responsibility, as millions remain affected by death and displacement.

Sudan’s conflict, which began in April 2023, has resulted in tens of thousands of civilian deaths and more than 8 million displaced people, making it one of the largest displacement crises globally (UNHCR, 2025).

In Ethiopia’s Amhara region, conflict escalated in 2023 between federal forces and Fano militia groups following security restructuring. Human rights organizations have documented civilian casualties, detentions, and displacement associated with the fighting (Human Rights Watch, 2024; Amnesty International, 2024).

In Oromia, ongoing confrontations between federal authorities and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) have contributed to civilian insecurity and displacement over several years (International Crisis Group, 2024).

Across these conflicts, civilians particularly women, children, and the elderly have faced displacement, hunger, destruction of homes, disruption of education, and documented cases of sexual violence (Human Rights Watch, 2023).

When Natural Wealth Becomes a Curse

Gold reserves and strategic ports should provide foundations for economic transformation. Instead, in parts of East Africa, resource wealth has coincided with cycles of militarization and humanitarian crisis. Communities located near mining zones and strategic trade corridors often experience insecurity rather than development. Infrastructure such as schools, clinics, water systems, farms, and factories has been damaged or disrupted in conflict-affected regions.

Gold production has become one of Ethiopia’s most important sources of foreign currency. Recent trade data reported by international financial media show that Ethiopia exported tens of thousands of kilograms of gold in the 2024–2025 fiscal year, generating billions of dollars in revenue, with the UAE serving as a primary destination market (Reuters, 2025). In fiscal year 2024/25, Ethiopia exported approximately 29,396 kilograms of gold, generating around USD 2.05 billion, with the UAE as a primary destination (Reuters, 2025; 2Merkato, 2025).

Regional production figures reported during the same fiscal period indicate that:
• Tigray contributed approximately 12,210 kilograms
• Oromia contributed approximately 6,910 kilograms
• Benishangul-Gumuz contributed approximately 3,689 kilograms
(2Merkato, 2025).

These same regions have experienced armed conflict, insecurity, and political instability in recent years.

Sudan presents a parallel pattern. Investigative reporting and civil society monitoring have documented that significant quantities of Sudanese gold estimated at around 29 metric tons in 2024 were exported to the UAE during the ongoing Sudan conflict (Reuters, 2023; Swissaid, 2024). Watchdog groups have raised concerns that parts of Sudan’s gold trade operate in areas under the control of armed factions.

The proximity between gold production zones and armed confrontation should alarm policymakers and raise serious questions regarding the intersection of natural resource flows and conflict sustainability. The pattern observed across Ethiopia and Sudan reflects a broader concern in conflict studies: when governance institutions are strained and armed actors are active, natural resource wealth can correlate with prolonged instability rather than broad-based prosperity.

Gold and ports should be engines of development. Instead, in parts of East Africa, they have coincided with:
• Mass displacement
• Civilian deaths
• Starvation conditions
• Sexual violence
• Destruction of schools, clinics, water systems, and livelihoods

The overlap between gold-producing regions and areas of armed confrontation has intensified concerns that natural resource revenues may indirectly sustain conflict actors. The question facing policymakers and the international community is not whether gold and ports are valuable, but whether governance, accountability, and sovereignty will ensure that such wealth benefits citizens rather than correlates with instability.

Ports, Strategy, and Geopolitics

DP World, the UAE-based global port operator, has invested heavily in strategic ports across the Red Sea and East Africa. Credible reports indicate that DP World manages and has expanded operations at Berbera Port in Somaliland, positioning it as a key trade gateway for landlocked Ethiopia (DP World, 2025; Reuters, 2026).

This underscores the UAE’s strategic interest in Red Sea trade corridors linking the Gulf, the Horn of Africa, and Yemen. At the same time, tensions have emerged between Ethiopia and Eritrea over port access rhetoric, raising concerns about regional stability. Analysts warn that militarization combined with economic competition over ports and mineral wealth increases the risk of renewed interstate confrontation. Access to ports such as Assab and broader Red Sea maritime infrastructure remains strategically significant in regional political discourse.

An International Call for Accountability and Reconstruction

These inhuman atrocities are occurring in contexts where control over natural resources appears to intersect with violence at the expense of the lives and destinies of children, women, and the elderly. Resource wealth must never come at the cost of civilian survival and human dignity.

The international community should:
1. Support independent investigations into alleged external military financing and arms transfers.
2. Strengthen accountability mechanisms under international humanitarian and human rights law.
3. Consider targeted financial measures against individuals credibly implicated in atrocity crimes.
4. Prioritize reconstruction of war-affected infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, water systems, and agricultural capacity for the victims of these wars.
5. Ensure frameworks for rehabilitation and compensation for affected civilian populations.

Sustainable peace in East Africa requires restoration of sovereignty, responsible governance of natural resources, and transformation of gold and port revenues into public benefit rather than instruments of instability.

Sources

African Union. (2023). Agreement for lasting peace through a permanent cessation of hostilities between the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

Amnesty International. (2024). Ethiopia: Human rights concerns in Amhara region.

BBC News. (2021). Ethiopia conflict: Drone warfare and the Tigray war. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59245924

Human Rights Watch. (2023). World report: Ethiopia events of 2022. https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2023/country-chapters/ethiopia

Human Rights Watch. (2024). Ethiopia: Abuses in Amhara conflict. https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/03/21/ethiopia-amhara-conflict-abuses

International Crisis Group. (2023). Red Sea rivalries and regional geopolitics. https://www.crisisgroup.org

International Crisis Group. (2024). Conflict trends in Oromia. https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/ethiopia

Reuters. (2018). UAE pledges $3 billion in aid and investments to Ethiopia. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-uae-idUSKBN1K62H6

Reuters. (2021). Foreign drones and Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ethiopia-drones-tigray-2021

Reuters. (2023). Sudan gold trade and armed networks investigation. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudan-gold-trade-investigation-2023-07-27/

Reuters. (2025). Ethiopia gold exports surge amid foreign exchange push. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ethiopia-gold-exports-2025

Reuters. (2026). Investigation into UAE-linked regional security involvement.

Swissaid. (2024). On the trail of African gold exports. https://www.swissaid.ch/en/articles/on-the-trail-of-african-gold/

The Lancet. (2022). Mortality in the Tigray region of Ethiopia during conflict.

UN OCHA. (2023). Ethiopia humanitarian situation report. https://www.unocha.org

UNHCR. (2025). Sudan emergency update. https://www.unhcr.org