Ethiopia inaugurates new naval bases

The Ethiopian Navy headquarters in Jan Meda, Addis Ababa. (FDRE Defense Force)

Ethiopia's chief of general staff inaugurated four new facilities on 6 September, including the re-established navy's headquarters and training centre.

The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) released photographs enabling the location of the new naval headquarters to be identified in Jan Meda, near the embassy district in Addis Ababa, while the new Navy Training Centre has been built next to the Ethiopian Defence University in Bishoftu.

Field Marshal Berhanu Jula also inaugurated the new Special Operations Command HQ (Headquarters), which was built on a hillock on the edge of Koye Feche to the southeast of the capital.

Two other established facilities were also officially inaugurated. Satellite imagery shows that work on developing an air-defence base 6.4 km to the west of the Special Operations Command HQ began in 2018. This has previously been shown by the ENDF and is called the Melka Kalitiy Logistics Center.

Work on a site closer to the centre of Addis Ababa that the ENDF has now identified as the Kore Maintenance and Overhauling Center began around the same time. The ENDF said the project was delayed for several reasons that it did not divulge.

For more information, please see Somaliland to host Ethiopian naval base in return for recognition .