🔗 Share this article Escalating Rhetorical Battle Between Ethiopia and Eritrea Triggers Anxieties of Conflict Increasing worries have emerged regarding the chance of warfare involving Horn of Africa neighbors, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational language has escalated in the last month. Ethiopia and Eritrea were allies in the civil war in Tigray but they have subsequently disagreed. What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared? Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for access to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has triggered a fierce verbal exchange. Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in last year that his government's access to the sea was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea ignored. Relations between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it landlocked. In 1998, a border war erupted in which over a hundred thousand people died. Current Comments from Ethiopian Officials Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and suggested the desire to capture it through military means. On 1 September, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "rectified soon". The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "by force". Eritrean Response to the Threats In the face of continuous warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to concise remarks on X from Communications Head Yemane G.. He has rejected Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of retaking former lands. Government spokespeople warned on recently that moves to validate "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Defense Activities on the Region There have been little evidence of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the neighboring states. Nevertheless, in the country, state television has displayed completion events of numerous trainees at multiple army bases. The leader of personnel division of the military, the officer, stated recently in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our adversaries". Historical Roots of the Tension For over fifty years from the late 19th century, Eritrea was ruled by colonial powers. Following World War II, it was then managed by the UK forces before evolving into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire. Yet in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor ended this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state. A extended armed struggle followed, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by Eritreans in a vote in 1993. For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, resulting in hostilities in 1998. Even though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations continued at in dispute. This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two endorsed a statement that the conflict was finished – a action that gained the Prime Minister the prestigious award. The both administrations were then partners in the country's recent internal conflict in Tigray. But ties have subsequently deteriorated anew.