🔗 Share this article

Growing worries have emerged about the possibility of warfare among Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has intensified in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has sparked a heated rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in last year that his government's sea access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea ignored.

Ties between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a long-standing battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it without sea access.

In 1998, a border war started in which more than 100,000 people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and hinted at the intention to seize it militarily.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "rectified tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrean Response to the Claims

In the face of continuous challenges from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been limited to brief comments on online platforms from Information Minister the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for maritime entry calling it "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a strategy of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry alerted on recently that attempts to validate "blatant hostility" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Region

There have been no reports of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, government media has shown training completions of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The head of personnel division of the military, the officer, stated recently in an conversation that the army was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Past Background of the Dispute

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was administered by Italian rulers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the UK forces before turning into a associated territory of Ethiopia.

However in the early 1960s the ruler ended this system and Eritrea became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A extended civil war ensued, concluding with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then endorsed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the exact location of their mutual frontier, leading to war in 1998.

Though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations remained at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders signed a announcement that the conflict was over – a decision that gained Abiy the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in Ethiopia's recent civil war in Tigray.

Yet ties have later worsened again.