🔗 Share this article Escalating War of Words Involving Ethiopian Government and Eritrea Raises Anxieties of Military Confrontation Increasing apprehensions are present over the potential of military engagement involving East African neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile language has intensified in the last month. Ethiopia and The Eritrean government cooperated in the armed struggle in Tigray but they have since fallen out. What Did Ethiopian Officials Declared? Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a heated rhetorical conflict. PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in last year that his nation's sea access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrea ignored. Relations between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it landlocked. Five years later, a border war erupted in which numerous people died. Latest Remarks from Ethiopian Officials Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrean southern port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and implied the desire to take it by force. In early September, Abiy said the country's "mistake" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "rectified tomorrow". The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "by force". Eritrean Reaction to the Claims Despite continuous warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to short statements on X from Information Minister Yemane G.. He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a approach of retaking previous domains. Government spokespeople cautioned on mid-September that attempts to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Military Activities on the Region There have been no reports of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the two countries. Nevertheless, in the country, national TV has displayed training completions of many recruits at multiple army bases. The head of human resources department of the defense force, the officer, stated recently in an interview that the army was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our enemies". Past Roots of the Dispute For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was governed by Italian rulers. After Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the British administration before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia. But in the early 1960s the ruler cancelled this system and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state. A extended civil war ensued, ending with military reversal in 1991. Independence was then approved by the population in a vote in 1993. For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, leading to hostilities in 1998. Though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries stayed at loggerheads. This ended in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two signed a announcement that the war was over – a action that won Abiy the international recognition. The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous armed struggle in the northern region. Yet relations have since broken down anew.