🔗 Share this article

Growing worries have emerged over the chance of warfare among East African neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive discourse has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has triggered a fierce verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in 2023 that his government's sea access was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Relations between the both governments have regularly been difficult. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict broke out in which numerous people were killed.

Recent Comments from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean southern port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and suggested the desire to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "rectified soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrean Answer to the Statements

Amid persistent warnings from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been confined to concise remarks on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for maritime entry calling it "risky" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a approach of reclaiming previous domains.

The information ministry warned on recently that moves to justify "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Border

Currently, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, national TV has displayed training completions of many recruits at various military training camps.

The director of personnel division of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an interview that the military was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Historical Background of the Tension

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, the territory was governed by Italian colonisers.

After World War II, it was then managed by the British military before evolving into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

But in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this agreement and Eritrea became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long internal conflict ensued, finishing with the government's loss in 1991. Autonomy was then confirmed by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, causing war in 1998.

Although this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations remained at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two signed a declaration that the war was finished – a decision that gained the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The two governments were then allies in Ethiopia's recent civil war in Tigray.

But ties have since broken down once more.