🔗 Share this article

Mounting concerns are present over the possibility of armed conflict among East African countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has provoked a intense rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in the previous year that his government's access to the sea was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrea ignored.

Ties between the both governments have frequently been strained. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a border war erupted in which numerous people lost their lives.

Current Remarks from Ethiopian Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and suggested the intention to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "addressed tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

Amid persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to concise remarks on X from Information Minister the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry describing it as "risky" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a strategy of claiming back former lands.

Government spokespeople warned on mid-September that moves to validate "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Border

There have been no reports of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the both nations.

However, in Ethiopia, government media has displayed completion events of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The head of human resources department of the armed forces, General Hachalu, commented lately in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Previous Origins of the Conflict

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

Following World War II, it was then managed by the UK forces before evolving into a federated part of Ethiopia.

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this agreement and Eritrea became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long internal conflict ensued, finishing with the government's loss in 1991. Autonomy was then confirmed by voters in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, leading to hostilities in 1998.

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

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders signed a declaration that the conflict was finished – a move that earned Abiy the international recognition.

The two governments were then allies in Ethiopia's recent armed struggle in Tigray.

But relations have subsequently deteriorated again.