🔗 Share this article Intensifying Verbal Conflict Between Ethiopia and Eritrea Raises Concerns of Conflict Increasing apprehensions are present about the potential of military engagement between East African countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has escalated in the past few weeks. Ethiopia and Eritrea cooperated in the internal conflict in Tigray but they have subsequently disagreed. What Has Ethiopia Declared? Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has sparked a fierce verbal exchange. The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in 2023 that his government's sea access was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrean authorities rejected. Ties between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea. Five years later, a military clash broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives. Latest Comments from Ethiopian Government Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrean southern port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and suggested the intention to capture it through military means. In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "rectified in the future". The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "through military action". Eritrea's Answer to the Claims Despite continuous challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to concise remarks on X from Communications Head the minister. Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for sea access describing it as "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "irredentism" – a strategy of reclaiming lost territory. Government spokespeople warned on 16 September that moves to validate "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Military Movements on the Border So far, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the neighboring states. Nonetheless, in the country, government media has broadcast completion events of thousands of cadets at various military training camps. The head of personnel division of the defense force, the officer, commented lately in an conversation that the military was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our enemies". Previous Background of the Tension For more than half a century from the late 19th century, Eritrea was administered by Italian rulers. After World War II, it was then administered by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of Ethiopia. However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this system and Eritrea became fully incorporated into Ethiopia. A three-decade long civil war occurred, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then approved by the population in a plebiscite in 1993. For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their common border, resulting in hostilities in 1998. Although this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors remained at loggerheads. This ended in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader the president. The both leaders signed a statement that the hostilities was over – a action that won Abiy the international recognition. The two governments were then allies in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 armed struggle in the northern region. But ties have subsequently deteriorated again.