🔗 Share this article Rising Verbal Conflict Among Ethiopian Government and Eritrea Triggers Anxieties of Conflict Increasing worries are present over the potential of warfare involving Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational language has intensified in recent weeks. Ethiopia and Eritrea cooperated in the civil war in northern Ethiopia but they have since fallen out. What Has Ethiopia Stated? Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the sea coast through Eritrea has provoked a fierce rhetorical conflict. The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in last year that his country's maritime access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrean authorities ignored. Ties between the neighboring nations have often been tense. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked. Subsequently, a border war broke out in which over a hundred thousand people were killed. Latest Remarks from Ethiopia's Officials Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and hinted at the wish to capture it through military means. In early September, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "corrected soon". The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "using武力". Eritrean Response to the Threats In the face of ongoing threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been restricted to short statements on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel. Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a strategy of claiming back lost territory. The information ministry cautioned on mid-September that attempts to validate "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Defense Preparations on the Region So far, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the two countries. Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, government media has broadcast training completions of numerous trainees at various military training camps. The director of staff section of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an discussion that the military was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our enemies". Past Roots of the Conflict For over fifty years from 1890, the territory was governed by colonial powers. After Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the UK forces before evolving into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire. However in the early 1960s the ruler ended this system and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia. A three-decade long internal conflict ensued, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then confirmed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993. Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the exact location of their shared boundary, leading to conflict in 1998. Although this finished in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries remained at odds. This changed in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two endorsed a statement that the hostilities was concluded – a action that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition. The both administrations were then cooperators in the country's 2020-2022 civil war in the northern region. Yet diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated anew.