🔗 Share this article Intensifying Verbal Conflict Involving Ethiopian Government and Eritrean Government Raises Anxieties of Armed Clash Increasing worries exist over the potential of warfare between East African neighbors, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has escalated in recent weeks. Ethiopia and Eritrea were allies in the civil war in Tigray 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 fierce rhetorical conflict. PM Abiy Ahmed initially stated publicly in the previous year that his government's sea access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities rejected. Ties between the two countries have often been tense. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a long maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, rendering it without sea access. In 1998, a military clash erupted in which numerous people died. Recent Remarks from Ethiopia's Government Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and implied the wish to take it by force. In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of being denied passage to the sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "addressed tomorrow". Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "by force". Eritrean Response to the Claims In the face of continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been limited to short statements on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel. He has rejected Ethiopian requests for sea access describing it as "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a strategy of retaking previous domains. Eritrean authorities alerted on mid-September that attempts to validate "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Security Preparations on the Ground There have been little evidence of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the two countries. Nevertheless, in the country, national TV has shown graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at different defense facilities. The director of human resources department of the defense force, General Hachalu, recently said in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our opponents". Historical Origins of the Conflict For over fifty years from 1890, the territory was governed by Italian colonisers. After World War II, it was then administered by the British administration before evolving into a integrated region of Ethiopia. Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this arrangement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into Ethiopia. A extended civil war followed, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then confirmed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993. Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the exact location of their mutual frontier, resulting in hostilities in 1998. Though this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations remained at odds. This ended in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders agreed to a announcement that the war was concluded – a action that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition. The two governments were then allies in the country's recent civil war in the northern region. But diplomatic connections have since broken down anew.