Escalating Rhetorical Battle Among Ethiopia and Eritrea Sparks Anxieties of Conflict

Growing concerns have emerged about the potential of warfare involving East African countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as aggressive language has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has sparked a intense rhetorical conflict.

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

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have frequently been strained. Following a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked.

Five years later, a border war started in which numerous people lost their lives.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and suggested the desire to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of being denied passage to the sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "addressed tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrean Response to the Threats

Despite persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a policy of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry warned on mid-September that moves to validate "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Border

Currently, there are no reports of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the two countries.

However, in Ethiopia, national TV has displayed training completions of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The head of personnel division of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Past Roots of the Tension

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was governed by Italian rulers.

After World War II, it was then controlled by the British administration before evolving into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

But in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this agreement and Eritrea became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long internal conflict followed, ending with the government's loss in 1991. Independence was then confirmed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

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

Although this finished in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors continued at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the war was concluded – a decision that earned the Prime Minister the international recognition.

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

Yet relations have subsequently deteriorated once more.