🔗 Share this article

Growing apprehensions exist over the potential of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbours, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as hostile language has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a fierce rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in the previous year that his country's access to the sea was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Ties between the both governments have regularly been difficult. Following a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a military clash started in which more than 100,000 people died.

Recent Statements from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader the army commander have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and suggested the desire to take it by force.

Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "error" of losing entry to the sea as a because of Eritrea's separation would be "rectified soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Threats

Despite ongoing warnings from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been restricted to short statements on X from Communications Head Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access labeling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "irredentism" – a approach of reclaiming previous domains.

Eritrean authorities warned on 16 September that moves to justify "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Ground

So far, there are little evidence of major military movements in the border areas between the neighboring states.

However, in Ethiopia, government media has broadcast completion events of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The head of human resources department of the armed forces, the officer, commented lately in an interview that the army was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Historical Origins of the Tension

For decades from 1890, the territory was ruled by Italian rulers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the British military before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long armed struggle ensued, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then endorsed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their common border, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Although this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries stayed at odds.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders agreed to a statement that the hostilities was finished – a move that earned Abiy the international recognition.

The both administrations were then partners in Ethiopia's recent armed struggle in the northern region.

Yet diplomatic connections have later worsened again.