Intensifying Verbal Conflict Among Ethiopia and Eritrean Government Triggers Fears of Conflict

Increasing apprehensions are present over the possibility of military engagement among Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile rhetoric has escalated in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has sparked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in the previous year that his government's access to the sea was an existential matter, statements that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have often been tense. Following a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in 1993, rendering it without sea access.

Five years later, a border war started in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted control of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and implied the wish to take it by force.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing entry to the sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "rectified in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Threats

Amid continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for maritime entry describing it as "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back former lands.

Government spokespeople alerted on mid-September that efforts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Border

There have been no reports of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the neighboring states.

However, in Ethiopia, state television has shown training completions of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of human resources department of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Past Roots of the Dispute

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

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the British administration before becoming a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 the ruler ended this system and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year civil war ensued, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then endorsed by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the exact location of their shared boundary, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries stayed at odds.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President the president. The two signed a announcement that the conflict was concluded – a move that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then allies in the country's previous armed struggle in the northern region.

However ties have since broken down again.