🔗 Share this article Intensifying Verbal Conflict Involving Ethiopia and Eritrea Sparks Fears of Armed Clash Increasing apprehensions exist about the potential of warfare among East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as confrontational discourse has escalated in the last month. The Ethiopian government and Eritrea were allies in the civil war in northern Ethiopia but they have later become estranged. What Did Ethiopian Officials Declared? Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has triggered a heated verbal exchange. PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in the previous year that his country's access to the sea was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrea dismissed. Ties between the both governments have frequently been strained. After a long-standing battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea. Subsequently, a military clash started in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives. Recent Statements from Ethiopia's Leadership Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and suggested the wish to take it by force. In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "corrected soon". Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "using武力". Eritrean Reaction to the Statements Amid ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to brief comments on online platforms from Information Minister the minister. Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for sea access labeling it "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "expansionism" – a strategy of reclaiming lost territory. The information ministry cautioned on 16 September that efforts to justify "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Defense Preparations on the Ground So far, there are no reports of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the two countries. Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has displayed training completions of many recruits at multiple army bases. The leader of staff section of the military, the officer, stated recently in an conversation that the military was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our adversaries". Previous Background of the Tension For over fifty years from 1890, Eritrea was ruled by colonial powers. After the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the UK forces before turning into a associated territory of Ethiopia. Yet in the early 1960s the ruler ended this agreement and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state. A extended armed struggle ensued, finishing with the government's loss in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by Eritreans 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 precise positioning of their shared boundary, causing conflict in 1998. Even though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries remained at loggerheads. This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two agreed to a declaration that the hostilities was over – a decision that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize. The two governments were then allies in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 internal conflict in Tigray. Yet relations have subsequently deteriorated again.