Rising War of Words Involving Ethiopian Government and Eritrean Government Triggers Anxieties of Conflict

Mounting apprehensions exist about the chance of military engagement between Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational rhetoric has intensified in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has sparked a intense rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in last year that his government's sea access was an existential matter, statements that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Relations between the both governments have regularly been difficult. Following a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked.

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

Current Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and implied the intention to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "corrected tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrean Answer to the Threats

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

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea describing it as "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a strategy of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry warned on recently that moves to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Border

So far, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has displayed training completions of many recruits at various military training camps.

The leader of staff section of the armed forces, the officer, commented lately in an interview that the military was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Previous Origins of the Conflict

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was administered by Italian rulers.

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

However in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this arrangement and Eritrea became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year internal conflict ensued, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then confirmed by voters in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Though this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries continued at loggerheads.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the hostilities was finished – a move that won the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then cooperators in the country's previous internal conflict in Tigray.

Yet diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated anew.