🔗 Share this article

Growing worries have emerged regarding the possibility of armed conflict involving Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has intensified in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has sparked a heated war of words.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in last year that his nation's access to the sea was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. Following a decades-long battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a territorial conflict started in which numerous people were killed.

Current Statements from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and suggested the wish to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "addressed in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Statements

In the face of ongoing challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to short statements on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of claiming back former lands.

Government spokespeople warned on recently that efforts to validate "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Region

So far, there are no reports of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, state television has shown graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The director of staff section of the defense force, General Hachalu, recently said in an interview that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Past Background of the Dispute

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, Eritrea was governed by Italian colonisers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the UK forces before turning into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this system and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long internal conflict occurred, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Independence was then confirmed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their common border, resulting in war in 1998.

Though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations remained at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders signed a statement that the war was over – a action that earned Abiy the international recognition.

The both administrations were then allies in Ethiopia's recent civil war in Tigray.

Yet relations have subsequently deteriorated again.