🔗 Share this article

Growing worries exist regarding the possibility of warfare among Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as aggressive language has intensified in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has sparked a heated verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed initially stated publicly in last year that his country's maritime access was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrea ignored.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have often been tense. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in 1993, rendering it without sea access.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict started in which more than 100,000 people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and implied the desire to take it by force.

In early September, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of losing access to the sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "addressed in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Statements

Amid ongoing challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to short statements on social media from Communications Head the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a policy of reclaiming former lands.

Government spokespeople cautioned on mid-September that attempts to validate "obvious provocation" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Region

Currently, there are no reports of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has displayed graduation ceremonies of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The director of staff section of the defense force, General Hachalu, recently said in an conversation that the army was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Historical Roots of the Dispute

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, Eritrea was administered by colonial powers.

Following World War II, it was then administered by the British military before turning into a federated part of Ethiopia.

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this agreement and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long civil war occurred, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then approved by the population in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their common border, causing hostilities in 1998.

Although this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries stayed at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two signed a declaration that the hostilities was over – a action that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The both administrations were then allies in the country's 2020-2022 armed struggle in Tigray.

Yet relations have since broken down once more.