Rising War of Words Among Ethiopia and Eritrea Raises Concerns of Military Confrontation

Mounting worries are present about the potential of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbors, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as aggressive language has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has provoked a intense rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in the previous year that his government's sea access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea dismissed.

Ties between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. After a decades-long battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in 1993, making it without sea access.

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

Current Statements from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrea's southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and hinted at the intention to take it by force.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "corrected soon".

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

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Despite continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been limited to short statements on online platforms from Information Minister the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry calling it "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a strategy of retaking previous domains.

Eritrean authorities alerted on recently that moves to validate "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Region

So far, there are little evidence of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has displayed training completions of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The head of human resources department of the armed forces, the officer, commented lately in an conversation that the army was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Historical Roots of the Dispute

For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was governed by colonial powers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the British administration before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

Yet in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this arrangement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long civil war followed, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Independence was then confirmed by voters in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, causing hostilities in 1998.

Though this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations continued at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two endorsed a declaration that the war was finished – a action that gained Abiy the international recognition.

The both administrations were then partners in the country's 2020-2022 internal conflict in the northern region.

Yet relations have subsequently deteriorated again.