Intensifying Rhetorical Battle Among Ethiopian Government and Eritrean Government Raises Anxieties of Armed Clash

Mounting worries are present over the possibility of armed conflict among East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as hostile language has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has sparked a heated war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in 2023 that his country's maritime access was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrea rejected.

Ties between the both governments have regularly been difficult. Following a prolonged struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a long Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it without sea access.

In 1998, a territorial conflict started in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Current Statements from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader the army commander have openly claimed ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and implied the desire to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrean Response to the Threats

Amid ongoing warnings from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been confined to short statements on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea labeling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a approach of retaking former lands.

The information ministry alerted on recently that efforts to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Ground

So far, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the two countries.

However, in Ethiopia, government media has broadcast training completions of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The director of staff section of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Past Origins of the Tension

For decades from 1890, the territory was governed by Italian rulers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the British administration before becoming a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

But in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor ended this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long civil war followed, ending with the government's loss in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they clashed over the exact location of their shared boundary, causing war in 1998.

Though this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the two nations stayed at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the hostilities was finished – a action that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then partners in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 internal conflict in Tigray.

However diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated anew.