Rising War of Words Among Ethiopia and Eritrea Sparks Fears of Armed Clash

Growing worries are present about the chance of armed conflict between Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile language has intensified in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has provoked a fierce verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in last year that his nation's maritime access was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long sea border, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it cut off from the sea.

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

Recent Comments from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated control of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and hinted at the intention to seize it militarily.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "mistake" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea's separation would be "addressed tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

In the face of persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been limited to brief comments on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea describing it as "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a approach of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry warned on recently that attempts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Border

There have been no reports of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has shown graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at multiple army bases.

The director of personnel division of the armed forces, the officer, stated recently in an conversation that the army was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Historical Roots of the Conflict

For over fifty years from 1890, the territory was administered by Italian colonisers.

After World War II, it was then managed by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of Ethiopia.

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year internal conflict followed, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Sovereignty was then approved by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, causing hostilities in 1998.

Even though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors remained at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two signed a statement that the conflict was concluded – a move that won Abiy the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then partners in the country's 2020-2022 civil war in the northern region.

Yet relations have since broken down once more.