🔗 Share this article Intensifying War of Words Among Ethiopia and Eritrean Government Triggers Fears of Conflict Mounting apprehensions have emerged over the chance of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as aggressive discourse has escalated in the last month. The Ethiopian government and Eritrea cooperated in the civil war in northern Ethiopia but they have subsequently disagreed. What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared? Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for passage to the sea coast through Eritrea has sparked a intense war of words. PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in 2023 that his nation's maritime access was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities ignored. Relations between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it without sea access. In 1998, a territorial conflict started in which more than 100,000 people died. Latest Comments from Ethiopian Government Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have directly stated control of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and hinted at the desire to capture it through military means. In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of being denied passage to the sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "rectified soon". Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be given back "by force". Eritrea's Response to the Claims In the face of persistent threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head Yemane G.. Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a approach of reclaiming previous domains. Government spokespeople warned on mid-September that attempts to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Security Movements on the Ground Currently, there are little evidence of major military movements in the boundary zones between the both nations. However, in the country, national TV has shown completion events of many recruits at various military training camps. The director of human resources department of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an interview that the military was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our adversaries". Past Roots of the Dispute For over fifty years from 1890, Eritrea was governed by Italian rulers. Following the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British military before turning into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire. Yet in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor ended this agreement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia. A three-decade long armed struggle followed, finishing with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then endorsed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993. For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, causing conflict in 1998. Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors continued at odds. This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader the president. The both leaders agreed to a declaration that the conflict was over – a move that won the Prime Minister the prestigious award. The both administrations were then partners in Ethiopia's recent civil war in the northern region. Yet relations have since broken down anew.