DOMINANT ANGLE
Addis Ababa is measuring the economic repercussions of the crisis in the Red Sea, where the Houthi blockade against Saudi oil tankers is driving up oil prices and threatening the stability of a maritime route on which the regional trade of the Horn of Africa depends.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
The Brent barrel was trading on Wednesday at a little over $107, in decline but still well above pre-conflict levels.
- 02
According to the UNHCR, at least 100,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since the start, early September, of the Houthi offensive.
- 03
The Houthists claim to have intercepted two formations of Saudi F-15 fighter jets over Mokha and forced them to immediately leave the airspace.
ANALYSIS
Addis-Abeba, 19 September 2026. Developments in the crisis in the Red Sea, where Saudi Arabia is facing an offensive by Houthi rebels backed by Iran, are being measured in Addis-Abeba in terms of their regional economic repercussions, the Horn of Africa being a coastal region of the same strategic waters that Riyadh is now trying to secure.
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia accused the Houthi rebels of targeting Mecca with a drone, an attack that the coalition led by Riyadh described as a "cowardly terrorist act" and which the Yemeni rebels denied, their military spokesman Yahya Saree stating that "our operations target oil installations and military bases far from holy sites". The Houthi rebels also claim to have intercepted two formations of Saudi F-15 fighter jets over Mokha, "forcing them to leave immediately" the airspace, while also claiming strikes on Aramco facilities in Yanbu and the Khamis Mushait airbase.
The conflict, which flared up again in July, has allowed the Houthi rebels to strengthen their grip on the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, a lock connecting Europe and Asia via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. Immediate consequence: the Brent barrel was trading on Wednesday at just over $107, in a slight decline but still well above pre-war levels — a pressure that Doha considers potentially "catastrophic" if the strait were to be blocked, recalling that "the world is already suffering from the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz".
In the face of this pressure, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has intensified his diplomatic efforts, traveling to Cairo on Tuesday to call, alongside Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, for "guaranteeing freedom and security of navigation" in the Red Sea — Egypt also fearing a decline in its Suez Canal revenues. Riyadh has also solicited Washington, but according to the American media Axios, citing American officials, President Donald Trump has refused to order airstrikes against the Houthi rebels.
On the humanitarian front, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has recorded at least 100,000 displaced people in Yemen since the beginning of the Houthi offensive, early September, a figure that adds to an already severe crisis in the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula since the 2014-2022 war.
