“Ethiopia does not have any intention of engaging in conflict with Eritrea for the purpose of gaining access to the sea,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Thursday, according to a post by his office on X. Although access to the Red Sea was an existential matter for landlocked Ethiopia, Abiy’s government wanted to address it peacefully via dialogue, he added. Fears of war emerged in recent weeks after Eritrea ordered a nationwide military mobilisation, according to a human rights group, and Ethiopia deployed troops towards the border, diplomatic sources and officials told the Reuters news agency.

Abiy’s ambitions to gain access to the sea have angered Eritrea, which has accused it of eyeing the port of Assab. “Eritrea is perplexed by Ethiopia’s misguided and outdated ambitions for maritime access and naval base ‘through diplomacy or military force’,” Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel said on Tuesday, echoing remarks made by the country’s foreign minister to international diplomats. In a post on X, Yemane urged the international community “to pressure Ethiopia to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbours”. He also described Eritrea’s alleged “preparations for war against Ethiopia” as “false accusations”.

Renewed clashes between two of Africa’s largest armies would end a historic rapprochement for which Abiy won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, and risk a humanitarian disaster in a region already grappling with fallout from the war in Sudan. During the 2020-2022 civil war between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopia’s central government, Eritrean forces crossed the border to fight in support of Ethiopia.

But the peace deal signed in Pretoria, South Africa in November 2022 drove a new wedge between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which was not party to the negotiations. Since then, the TPLF – which runs Tigray’s post-war interim administration with the blessing of Ethiopia’s federal government – has split, with both factions seeking control of the post-war interim administration of the region. The current interim administration has accused the dissident faction of collaborating with Eritrea, while the dissidents in turn say their rivals have failed to protect Tigrayan interests. Each side denies the other’s allegations. (Al Jazeera/Reuters)