🔗 Share this article

Increasing concerns have emerged regarding the chance of armed conflict among East African countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as aggressive language has intensified in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for passage to the sea coast through Eritrea has provoked a heated rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in 2023 that his government's sea access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

Five years later, a territorial conflict broke out in which more than 100,000 people died.

Latest Statements from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and suggested the intention to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing entry to the sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "corrected soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrea's Response to the Threats

Despite continuous warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for maritime entry labeling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a policy of claiming back former lands.

Government spokespeople warned on 16 September that efforts to validate "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Border

So far, there are no reports of major military movements in the boundary zones between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has displayed completion events of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The director of personnel division of the defense force, the officer, stated recently in an interview that the military was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Historical Roots of the Tension

For over fifty years from 1890, Eritrea was ruled by Italian rulers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the British military before becoming a associated territory of Ethiopia.

However in 1962 the ruler terminated this system and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A extended armed struggle occurred, ending with military reversal in 1991. Independence was then confirmed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, causing conflict in 1998.

Even though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors remained at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two agreed to a declaration that the conflict was over – a move that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

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

However ties have subsequently deteriorated anew.