Rising War of Words Among Ethiopia and Eritrean Government Raises Concerns of Military Confrontation

Increasing apprehensions have emerged about the potential of warfare involving Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile language has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has sparked a fierce verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in the previous year that his government's access to the sea was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea ignored.

Ties between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. Following a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it landlocked.

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

Current Comments from Ethiopian Officials

Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and implied the desire to take it by force.

Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "addressed tomorrow".

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

Eritrea's Reaction to the Statements

In the face of persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to brief comments on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea describing it as "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a policy of claiming back former lands.

The information ministry cautioned on 16 September that efforts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Region

So far, there are no reports of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the both nations.

However, in the country, government media has shown completion events of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The leader of human resources department of the military, the officer, commented lately in an interview that the military was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Past Roots of the Tension

For decades from 1890, the territory was administered by colonial powers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the UK forces before turning into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s the ruler cancelled this arrangement and Eritrea became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year armed struggle ensued, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Independence was then endorsed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, causing hostilities in 1998.

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

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two endorsed a announcement that the war was finished – a move that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in Ethiopia's recent armed struggle in Tigray.

However diplomatic connections have later worsened anew.