🔗 Share this article

Growing worries are present about the chance of armed conflict among Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as aggressive language has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has triggered a fierce war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in 2023 that his government's sea access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Ties between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, making it landlocked.

In 1998, a military clash started in which numerous people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and suggested the intention to take it by force.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of being denied passage to the sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "rectified soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Threats

Despite continuous threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to short statements on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea calling it "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a policy of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry cautioned on recently that attempts to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Border

Currently, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in the country, national TV has broadcast training completions of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The director of staff section of the military, the officer, commented lately in an discussion that the military was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Previous Background of the Conflict

For over fifty years from 1890, the territory was governed by Italian colonisers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British administration before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

But in 1962 the ruler terminated this system and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year civil war followed, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then endorsed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, causing war in 1998.

Although this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors continued at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the conflict was finished – a action that earned the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 armed struggle in the northern region.

But diplomatic connections have since broken down once more.