🔗 Share this article

Growing concerns are present over the chance of military engagement among East African neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive language has escalated in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in 2023 that his government's sea access was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Relations between the two countries have frequently been strained. Following a decades-long struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a territorial conflict broke out in which numerous people were killed.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and hinted at the desire to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "rectified in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrean Reaction to the Threats

Amid continuous warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry calling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a strategy of claiming back previous domains.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on mid-September that efforts to justify "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Ground

There have been little evidence of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in the country, state television has displayed training completions of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The director of personnel division of the military, General Hachalu, commented lately in an interview that the military was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Historical Origins of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was administered by colonial powers.

Following World War II, it was then managed by the British military before turning into a associated territory of Ethiopia.

However in 1962 the ruler ended this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year civil war occurred, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then approved by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, leading to war in 1998.

Although this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries continued at odds.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders agreed to a declaration that the war was concluded – a action that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then cooperators in the country's recent civil war in Tigray.

However relations have later worsened again.