Part 2/10:
To contextualize the current tensions, one must journey back to the late 19th century when imperial ambitions carved out the region's future boundaries. From 1869 onwards, with the opening of the Suez Canal, European powers, particularly Italy, turned their eyes to the Red Sea and its strategic waterways. Following Italy’s occupation of coastal areas including Masawa in Eritrea during the 1880s, a series of agreements and conflicts with Ethiopia set a fractious relationship in motion.