🔗 Share this article Intensifying Rhetorical Battle Among Ethiopia and Eritrean Government Raises Anxieties of Conflict Increasing concerns are present over the possibility of warfare among Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as aggressive discourse has ratcheted up in the past few weeks. Ethiopia and Eritrea worked together in the internal conflict in northern Ethiopia but they have subsequently disagreed. What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated? Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a fierce rhetorical conflict. PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in the previous year that his nation's access to the sea was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrean authorities dismissed. Relations between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a long-standing battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long sea border, formally separated from Ethiopia in 1993, making it without sea access. Five years later, a territorial conflict broke out in which numerous people lost their lives. Current Statements from Ethiopia's Officials Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and suggested the wish to take it by force. In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of losing entry to the sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "rectified in the future". Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "using武力". Eritrean Response to the Claims In the face of persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to brief comments on social media from Information Minister Yemane G.. Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for maritime entry describing it as "risky" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a strategy of reclaiming previous domains. Eritrean authorities warned on 16 September that efforts to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Defense Preparations on the Region So far, there are little evidence of major military movements in the border areas between the neighboring states. Nonetheless, in the country, government media has shown training completions of many recruits at various military training camps. The head of staff section of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an interview that the military was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our opponents". Historical Origins of the Tension For more than half a century from the late 19th century, the territory was administered by Italian rulers. After World War II, it was then controlled by the British administration before becoming a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire. But in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor ended this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia. A extended armed struggle ensued, concluding with military reversal in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then confirmed by the population in a vote in 1993. Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the exact location of their common border, causing hostilities in 1998. Even though this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors stayed at odds. This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader the president. The both leaders agreed to a statement that the conflict was concluded – a decision that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize. The neighboring states were then cooperators in the country's recent armed struggle in the northern region. However relations have later worsened once more.