Intensifying Rhetorical Battle Among Ethiopian Government and Eritrean Government Triggers Anxieties of Conflict

Growing concerns exist regarding the possibility of armed conflict involving East African countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive language has intensified in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has sparked a intense war of words.

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

Relations between the neighboring nations have often been tense. Following a long-standing battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it without sea access.

Subsequently, a border war erupted in which more than 100,000 people were killed.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and suggested the wish to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "addressed soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrean Response to the Threats

Amid persistent warnings from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been limited to short statements on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for maritime entry describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a strategy of claiming back lost territory.

Eritrean authorities warned on 16 September that moves to justify "obvious provocation" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Region

There have been no reports of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in the country, state television has displayed completion events of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The head of human resources department of the military, the officer, recently said in an conversation that the army was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Conflict

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was ruled by colonial powers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the British military before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

But in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor terminated this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long civil war ensued, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then approved by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Although this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors stayed at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders agreed to a declaration that the hostilities was concluded – a move that won Abiy the international recognition.

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

However diplomatic connections have later worsened anew.