🔗 Share this article Escalating War of Words Involving Ethiopian Government and Eritrean Government Triggers Anxieties of Armed Clash Increasing apprehensions are present over the possibility of armed conflict between Horn of Africa neighbours, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in the past few weeks. Ethiopia and Eritrea worked together in the civil war in northern Ethiopia but they have subsequently disagreed. What Has Ethiopia Stated? Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has triggered a intense war of words. Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in last year that his nation's maritime access was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrea dismissed. Diplomatic connections between the both governments have often been tense. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it cut off from the sea. Five years later, a border war started in which more than 100,000 people were killed. Latest Remarks from Ethiopian Leadership Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and suggested the intention to take it by force. On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of being denied passage to the sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "corrected in the future". The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "using武力". Eritrean Reaction to the Statements In the face of continuous threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to short statements on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel. Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for sea access calling it "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "expansionism" – a policy of claiming back lost territory. Government spokespeople alerted on mid-September that efforts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Security Activities on the Ground Currently, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the both nations. Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, government media has shown graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at multiple army bases. The leader of personnel division of the military, the officer, commented lately in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our enemies". Previous Origins of the Tension For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was administered by colonial powers. After World War II, it was then managed by the British administration before turning into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire. Yet in the early 1960s the ruler ended this arrangement and Eritrea became totally absorbed into Ethiopia. A thirty-year armed struggle occurred, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then confirmed by the population in a vote in 1993. For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, causing conflict in 1998. Though this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors remained at loggerheads. This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a declaration that the hostilities was concluded – a move that earned Abiy the international recognition. The neighboring states were then allies in Ethiopia's recent civil war in Tigray. Yet diplomatic connections have since broken down again.