ABSTRACT
The problems that surround the need for a secure highway can be aptly illustrated by the example of Ethiopia, which is very much a country in search of its own guaranteed outlets. Ethiopia has import–export routes in three main directions and in each case these must depend upon its relations with its neighbours. Taking Addis Ababa as the nodal point of the country there are, first, the two roads north to Eritrea: one passes through Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, to the port of Massawa on the Red Sea; and the second goes to Aseb, at the eastern extremity of Eritrea, also on the Red Sea. Second, there is the railway from Addis Ababa to the port of Djibouti. And third, there is the all-weather road from Addis Ababa due south to Nairobi in Kenya, part of the Trans-East African Highway, to give eventual access to Mombasa. This is the longest route.
