🔗 Share this article

Increasing worries exist over the potential of warfare among East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile language has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for access to the Red Sea through Eritrea has triggered a intense war of words.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in 2023 that his nation's access to the sea was an existential matter, statements that Eritrea dismissed.

Relations between the two countries have often been tense. Following a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it landlocked.

Five years later, a military clash broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Latest Statements from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader the army commander have openly claimed ownership of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and hinted at 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 Eritrea's separation would be "rectified soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Claims

Amid ongoing challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been confined to brief comments on X from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for sea access describing it as "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back previous domains.

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

Security Movements on the Region

There have been little evidence of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in the country, national TV has broadcast training completions of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The head of staff section of the military, General Hachalu, stated recently in an discussion that the military was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Historical Background of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was ruled by Italian colonisers.

After World War II, it was then managed by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A extended civil war occurred, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then approved by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the exact location of their shared boundary, leading to conflict in 1998.

Though this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations remained at odds.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two agreed to a announcement that the hostilities was finished – a move that earned the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The two governments were then partners in the country's 2020-2022 internal conflict in the northern region.

But diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated anew.