Escalating Rhetorical Battle Among Ethiopia and Eritrea Raises Anxieties of Military Confrontation
Growing concerns are present over the potential of armed conflict between East African neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational language has escalated in recent weeks.
What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?
Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated rhetorical conflict.
The Ethiopian leader previously announced in the previous year that his nation's sea access was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrean authorities dismissed.
Ties between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. After a decades-long struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it cut off from the sea.
Five years later, a territorial conflict broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.
Latest Statements from Ethiopian Officials
Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrea's southern port of Assab β approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and implied the intention to seize it militarily.
On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "corrected in the future".
The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "usingζ¦ε".
Eritrea's Response to the Statements
Despite persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.
Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for maritime entry labeling it "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" β a strategy of reclaiming lost territory.
Government spokespeople cautioned on mid-September that attempts to justify "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".
Security Preparations on the Border
There have been few indications of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the both nations.
Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has shown graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.
The leader of personnel division of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an interview that the military was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our opponents".
Past Roots of the Tension
For decades from 1890, the territory was governed by Italian rulers.
After Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the British military before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.
But in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor ended this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.
A three-decade long armed struggle occurred, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by the population in a vote in 1993.
Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, causing war in 1998.
Although this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations remained at odds.
This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two signed a declaration that the hostilities was finished β a action that earned the Prime Minister the international recognition.
The both administrations were then partners in the country's 2020-2022 armed struggle in Tigray.
But relations have subsequently deteriorated again.
