🔗 Share this article

Mounting concerns have emerged over the potential of military engagement among East African neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive discourse has intensified in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for passage to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has sparked a intense rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in the previous year that his country's access to the sea was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Ties between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, making it landlocked.

Subsequently, a military clash erupted in which more than 100,000 people were killed.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and military leader the army commander have publicly asserted control of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and implied the desire to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of being denied passage to the sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Claims

In the face of continuous threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to brief comments on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for maritime entry describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a strategy of claiming back former lands.

Eritrean authorities alerted on mid-September that moves to validate "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Region

Currently, there are no reports of major military movements in the boundary zones between the two countries.

However, in the country, government media has broadcast graduation ceremonies of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The leader of human resources department of the military, the officer, stated recently in an interview that the army was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Past Roots of the Conflict

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

After Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

But in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this agreement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A extended internal conflict followed, ending with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then endorsed by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, causing war in 1998.

Even though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors remained at odds.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrean President the president. The two endorsed a announcement that the war was concluded – a move that gained Abiy the international recognition.

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

However ties have subsequently deteriorated once more.