🔗 Share this article

Growing apprehensions are present about the possibility of military engagement among East African neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has intensified in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a intense war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in the previous year that his government's sea access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have frequently been strained. Following a long-standing battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it without sea access.

Subsequently, a border war erupted in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopia's Leadership

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and implied the desire to capture it through military means.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea's separation would be "addressed in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrean Response to the Claims

In the face of persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to short statements on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea describing it as "risky" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a approach of reclaiming former lands.

Government spokespeople cautioned on 16 September that moves to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Region

Currently, there are no reports of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

However, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The leader of personnel division of the military, General Hachalu, commented lately in an discussion that the army was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Previous Roots of the Dispute

For decades from the late 19th century, Eritrea was administered by Italian colonisers.

After World War II, it was then controlled by the British administration before turning into a federated part of Ethiopia.

However in 1962 the ruler ended this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long internal conflict followed, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their common border, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries stayed at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two signed a statement that the conflict was concluded – a action that gained Abiy the prestigious award.

The two governments were then partners in Ethiopia's recent civil war in the northern region.

But diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated once more.