🔗 Share this article

Mounting worries exist regarding the potential of warfare involving Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile rhetoric has intensified in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for passage to the sea coast through Eritrea has sparked a heated verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in the previous year that his nation's sea access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have regularly been difficult. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it without sea access.

In 1998, a border war erupted in which more than 100,000 people died.

Recent Comments from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader the army commander have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and hinted at the desire to take it by force.

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

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrean Answer to the Threats

Amid persistent warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to short statements on online platforms from Information Minister the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for maritime entry calling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a strategy of retaking previous domains.

Government spokespeople cautioned on 16 September that attempts to validate "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Border

There have been no reports of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

However, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown completion events of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The director of human resources department of the defense force, General Hachalu, commented lately in an discussion that the military was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Past Roots of the Conflict

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was administered by Italian rulers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the UK forces before turning into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

But in 1962 the ruler terminated this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended internal conflict followed, ending with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, leading to conflict in 1998.

Although this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations stayed at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two signed a announcement that the hostilities was concluded – a decision that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then allies in the country's previous civil war in the northern region.

But relations have later worsened again.