🔗 Share this article

Increasing concerns exist regarding the potential of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has escalated in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a heated rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in the previous year that his government's sea access was an existential matter, statements that Eritrea dismissed.

Ties between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. Following a long-standing struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a border war broke out in which numerous people were killed.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and suggested the wish to capture it through military means.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "corrected soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrean Reaction to the Threats

Despite persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to short statements on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a policy of retaking former lands.

The information ministry warned on 16 September that moves to justify "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Border

Currently, there are no reports of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the both nations.

However, in the country, national TV has shown training completions of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The leader of staff section of the armed forces, General Hachalu, stated recently in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Historical Roots of the Tension

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

Following World War II, it was then administered by the British military before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

But in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor ended this agreement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A extended civil war followed, concluding with military reversal in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then endorsed by voters in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they clashed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, causing conflict in 1998.

Even though this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations stayed at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two endorsed a statement that the war was finished – a move that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then partners in the country's previous civil war in the northern region.

But diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated anew.