🔗 Share this article Rising Verbal Conflict Involving Ethiopian Government and Eritrea Sparks Anxieties of Conflict Growing concerns have emerged over the possibility of armed conflict involving Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile rhetoric has escalated in the last month. The Ethiopian government and The Eritrean government were allies in the civil war in northern Ethiopia but they have since fallen out. What Has Ethiopia Declared? Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has sparked a intense verbal exchange. The Ethiopian leader previously announced in 2023 that his country's sea access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea ignored. Ties between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it without sea access. In 1998, a military clash started in which numerous people were killed. Recent Remarks from Ethiopian Government Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and suggested the intention to capture it through military means. Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea's separation would be "corrected in the future". The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "by force". Eritrea's Response to the Threats Amid persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on social media from Information Minister Yemane G.. Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for maritime entry describing it as "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a strategy of reclaiming former lands. Government spokespeople cautioned on 16 September that attempts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Military Preparations on the Border There have been little evidence of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the two countries. Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, government media has broadcast training completions of many recruits at multiple army bases. The leader of personnel division of the military, the officer, recently said in an conversation that the military was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our opponents". Historical Origins of the Tension For over fifty years from 1890, the territory was governed by Italian colonisers. Following World War II, it was then administered by the British military before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire. However in 1962 the ruler terminated this agreement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state. A thirty-year civil war followed, concluding with the government's loss in 1991. Sovereignty was then confirmed by the population in a referendum in 1993. Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, leading to war in 1998. Although this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries remained at in dispute. This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the hostilities was concluded – a action that earned the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize. The both administrations were then partners in Ethiopia's recent armed struggle in Tigray. But ties have later worsened anew.