🔗 Share this article

Mounting apprehensions are present regarding the possibility of warfare involving Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational language has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in the previous year that his nation's sea access was an existential matter, comments that Eritrea dismissed.

Relations between the both governments have frequently been strained. Following a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

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

Current Remarks from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's southern port of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and suggested the wish to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "error" of losing entry to the sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "rectified tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Statements

Despite ongoing threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been restricted to short statements on social media from Communications Head the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for sea access labeling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back former lands.

The information ministry alerted on mid-September that attempts to justify "obvious provocation" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Region

There have been few indications of major military movements in the boundary zones between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in the country, national TV has broadcast training completions of numerous trainees at multiple army bases.

The head of staff section of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an discussion that the army was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Historical Roots of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was governed by colonial powers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the British military before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s the ruler ended this agreement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A extended internal conflict occurred, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Autonomy was then endorsed by the population in a vote 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 shared boundary, leading to war in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors remained at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders signed a announcement that the war was concluded – a move that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then partners in the country's recent armed struggle in the northern region.

However diplomatic connections have later worsened once more.