🔗 Share this article

Increasing apprehensions are present about the chance of military engagement among Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive discourse has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for passage to the sea coast through Eritrea has provoked a fierce war of words.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in 2023 that his country's access to the sea was an vital issue, comments that Eritrea dismissed.

Ties between the two countries have frequently been strained. Following a prolonged battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, making it landlocked.

In 1998, a military clash started in which over a hundred thousand people were killed.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated control of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and hinted at the wish to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of being denied passage to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "rectified soon".

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

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

In the face of ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea calling it "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "expansionism" – a strategy of claiming back lost territory.

The information ministry warned on recently that attempts to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Region

So far, there are little evidence of major military movements in the boundary zones between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has broadcast graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The director of personnel division of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an conversation that the military was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Historical Background of the Conflict

For decades from the late 19th century, Eritrea was ruled by colonial powers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this system and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year internal conflict ensued, concluding with military reversal in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then endorsed by voters in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, causing war in 1998.

Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors remained at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President the president. The two agreed to a declaration that the conflict was finished – a decision that gained the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then allies in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray.

Yet ties have since broken down again.