UAE plans Ethiopia to Eritrea oil pipeline

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) plans to build an oil pipeline connecting Eritrea and Ethiopia, the latest sign of the Gulf state’s increasing involvement in the Horn of Africa. The pipeline will run from Eritrea’s port city of Assab to Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, an Ethiopian official said. Landlocked Ethiopia began extracting crude oil on a test basis from reserves in the country’s southeast in June and will need access through Eritrea in order to export it. The UAE played a behind-the-scenes role in helping Ethiopia and Eritrea end a two-decade state of war in July.