🔗 Share this article

Growing concerns exist about the chance of armed conflict among East African neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational language has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has provoked a fierce verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in last year that his nation's access to the sea was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrea dismissed.

Relations between the both governments have regularly been difficult. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in 1993, making it landlocked.

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

Current Statements from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and suggested the desire to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of being denied passage to the sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "addressed soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

Despite continuous threats from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been restricted to brief comments on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea describing it as "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back lost territory.

The information ministry warned on 16 September that efforts to justify "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Region

So far, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown training completions of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The leader of personnel division of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Previous Roots of the Tension

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

After the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British administration before evolving into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

Yet in 1962 the ruler cancelled this system and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long armed struggle occurred, concluding with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, causing war in 1998.

Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries continued at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the war was finished – a move that won the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The two governments were then partners in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 civil war in the northern region.

But diplomatic connections have later worsened anew.