🔗 Share this article

Growing concerns have emerged regarding the possibility of military engagement between Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrea has triggered a fierce rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in 2023 that his country's access to the sea was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrea ignored.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have often been tense. Following a long-standing fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it without sea access.

In 1998, a military clash erupted in which numerous people were killed.

Recent Comments from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and suggested the desire to capture it through military means.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "addressed tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Despite continuous threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to short statements on X from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for sea access labeling it "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a approach of claiming back former lands.

Government spokespeople alerted on recently that attempts to validate "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Ground

Currently, there are few indications of major military movements in the boundary zones between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown completion events of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The leader of personnel division of the military, the officer, commented lately in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Tension

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, the territory was ruled by Italian colonisers.

After World War II, it was then administered by the UK forces before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in 1962 the ruler cancelled this system and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long civil war ensued, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Independence was then approved by the population in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their common border, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Even though this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations remained at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two endorsed a announcement that the hostilities was concluded – a move that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 armed struggle in Tigray.

Yet ties have later worsened again.