Rising Rhetorical Battle Between Ethiopia and Eritrea Triggers Concerns of Conflict

Mounting apprehensions have emerged about the chance of armed conflict among East African neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive rhetoric has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has provoked a intense war of words.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in last year that his nation's maritime access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea ignored.

Relations between the both governments have regularly been difficult. Following a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, making it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a territorial conflict started in which numerous people were killed.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and hinted at the wish to take it by force.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "error" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "corrected tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

Amid ongoing challenges from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been confined to brief comments on social media from Information Minister the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry calling it "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a policy of claiming back former lands.

The information ministry alerted on recently that efforts to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Border

So far, there are little evidence of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the two countries.

However, in Ethiopia, government media has shown training completions of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The director of staff section of the armed forces, General Hachalu, stated recently in an interview that the military was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Previous Background of the Dispute

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

After World War II, it was then controlled by the UK forces before turning into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

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

A extended civil war occurred, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then confirmed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they clashed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, resulting in war in 1998.

Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors continued at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two endorsed a statement that the conflict was over – a action that earned Abiy the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then cooperators in the country's recent civil war in Tigray.

But ties have later worsened anew.