🔗 Share this article

Increasing concerns have emerged about the chance of warfare among Horn of Africa neighbors, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as aggressive language has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for entry to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has provoked a intense rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in last year that his country's sea access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea dismissed.

Ties between the neighboring nations have often been tense. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a border war started in which numerous people lost their lives.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrean southern port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and hinted at the intention to seize it militarily.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "rectified in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrean Response to the Statements

Despite continuous warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to brief comments on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for sea access calling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a approach of reclaiming former lands.

Government spokespeople cautioned on 16 September that attempts to justify "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Border

So far, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the both nations.

However, in the country, state television has displayed training completions of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The director of staff section of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an conversation that the military was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Tension

For over fifty years from 1890, Eritrea was governed by colonial powers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the UK forces before becoming a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A extended armed struggle ensued, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then confirmed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their shared boundary, leading to conflict in 1998.

Although this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries continued at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the hostilities was finished – a decision that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 armed struggle in the northern region.

Yet diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated anew.