🔗 Share this article

Mounting concerns are present over the possibility of armed conflict involving Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as aggressive rhetoric has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for passage to the sea coast through Eritrea has triggered a heated rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in last year that his nation's sea access was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the both governments have often been tense. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a extensive maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

Five years later, a territorial conflict started in which over a hundred thousand people were killed.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and military leader the army commander have publicly asserted control of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and suggested the desire to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "addressed tomorrow".

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

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

Despite ongoing warnings from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been confined to concise remarks on online platforms from Information Minister the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a strategy of claiming back former lands.

Government spokespeople alerted on recently that attempts to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Border

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

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, state television has shown training completions of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The director of staff section of the military, General Hachalu, stated recently in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Dispute

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

After Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the British administration before becoming a federated part of Ethiopia.

Yet in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor terminated this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A extended civil war occurred, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then confirmed 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 shared boundary, leading to conflict in 1998.

Although this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries continued at odds.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a statement that the war was finished – a decision that earned the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then partners in Ethiopia's previous armed struggle in Tigray.

However relations have since broken down once more.