🔗 Share this article

Increasing apprehensions have emerged regarding the possibility of armed conflict among East African neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as aggressive discourse has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has provoked a intense rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in the previous year that his nation's access to the sea was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea dismissed.

Relations between the neighboring nations have often been tense. After a prolonged battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

Five years later, a territorial conflict broke out in which numerous people lost their lives.

Current Statements from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – about 60km from the border - and suggested the intention to take it by force.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access to the sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "addressed soon".

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

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

Despite continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to short statements on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for maritime entry describing it as "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a approach of reclaiming previous domains.

The information ministry alerted on 16 September that moves to justify "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Ground

There have been no reports of major military movements in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, state television has broadcast graduation ceremonies of many recruits at various military training camps.

The leader of human resources department of the military, the officer, stated recently in an interview that the military was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Historical Origins of the Dispute

For over fifty years from 1890, the territory was administered by Italian rulers.

After World War II, it was then controlled by the British military before turning into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 the ruler terminated this agreement and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long civil war occurred, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then confirmed by voters in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors remained at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader the president. The both leaders agreed to a announcement that the conflict was over – a move that earned the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The two governments were then cooperators in the country's recent civil war in the northern region.

But relations have subsequently deteriorated anew.