I Never Recommended Assab Belonged to Ethiopia: Ambassador Hermen Cohen

Former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Herman Cohen, corrects claims coming from Ethiopia that he had recommended that they should lay claim to Eritrea's port, Assab. 

By James Butty,


Former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Herman Cohen said he wanted to set the record straight about his recommendation during a London Conference on Ethiopia and Eritrea and Port Assab.

He said he did not say the port belongs to Ethiopia, contrary to what some in Ethiopia had attributed to him, and that he only recommended Ethiopia and Eritrea maintain a common economic union after Eritrea’s independence allowing Ethiopia to use the port.

“There are some people in Ethiopia who said that during the London Conference of 1991 I recommended that the Port of Assab belonged to Ethiopia. This is not correct. What I recommended was Ethiopia and Eritrea maintain a common economic union after Eritrea’s independence and, in that way, Ethiopia could use the Port of Assab,” he said.

Cohen said that before the war of 1998, Ethiopia used a section of the port for their imports and exports, which means that Assab did not belong to Ethiopia, but it had access to an exclusive zone.

He said the port should be the sovereign territory of Eritrea, but that Ethiopia should have the right to use it.

Listen to the audio below:

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