🔗 Share this article Rising Rhetorical Battle Among Ethiopian Government and Eritrean Government Triggers Concerns of Conflict Growing apprehensions are present over the chance of armed conflict between East African countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile language has escalated in recent weeks. The Ethiopian government and Eritrea worked together in the civil war in northern Ethiopia but they have subsequently disagreed. What Has Ethiopia Declared? Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for access to the sea coast through Eritrea has triggered a fierce rhetorical conflict. Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in 2023 that his nation's sea access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrea ignored. Diplomatic connections between the both governments have often been tense. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in 1993, making it landlocked. Subsequently, a military clash erupted in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives. Current Statements from Ethiopian Leadership Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and suggested the intention to seize it militarily. On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "corrected tomorrow". The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "using武力". Eritrean Response to the Claims Amid continuous threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been limited to short statements on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel. Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea describing it as "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a approach of retaking former lands. The information ministry alerted on mid-September that attempts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Military Movements on the Region There have been few indications of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the two countries. However, in the country, government media has broadcast graduation ceremonies of many recruits at various military training camps. The director of personnel division of the defense force, General Hachalu, recently said in an discussion that the military was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries". Previous Background of the Tension For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was administered by Italian colonisers. Following the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British administration before becoming a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire. However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state. A thirty-year internal conflict followed, ending with military reversal in 1991. Independence was then endorsed by voters in a referendum in 1993. Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their common border, resulting in hostilities in 1998. Though this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors remained at loggerheads. This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders agreed to a declaration that the hostilities was over – a move that won the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize. The neighboring states were then allies in the country's 2020-2022 armed struggle in the northern region. However ties have later worsened anew.