🔗 Share this article

Increasing apprehensions are present about the possibility of armed conflict involving East African countries, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in last year that his country's access to the sea was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the both governments have frequently been strained. Following a prolonged battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a extensive maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it cut off from the sea.

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

Current Remarks from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrean southern port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and implied the wish to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "mistake" of being denied passage to the sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "corrected soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Statements

In the face of continuous challenges from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been limited to brief comments on social media from Communications Head Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "irredentism" – a approach of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople alerted on mid-September that moves to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Border

So far, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, government media has broadcast completion events of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The director of personnel division of the defense force, the officer, commented lately in an discussion that the army was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Previous Origins of the Conflict

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, the territory was ruled by Italian colonisers.

After World War II, it was then managed by the British military before becoming a associated territory of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long armed struggle ensued, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries continued at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the conflict was concluded – a action that gained Abiy the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then partners in Ethiopia's recent civil war in the northern region.

But relations have since broken down once more.