🔗 Share this article Rising Verbal Conflict Among Ethiopia and Eritrea Sparks Anxieties of Armed Clash Increasing concerns are present about the potential of warfare involving Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational rhetoric has ratcheted up in the past few weeks. The Ethiopian government and The Eritrean government cooperated in the internal conflict in Tigray but they have subsequently disagreed. What Did Ethiopia Said? Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrea has triggered a heated war of words. The Ethiopian leader previously announced in the previous year that his government's access to the sea was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed. Ties between the two countries have frequently been strained. Following a decades-long struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked. In 1998, a border war started in which over a hundred thousand people died. Recent Statements from Ethiopia's Government Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and suggested the desire to capture it through military means. Recently, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "corrected tomorrow". The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "through military action". Eritrea's Answer to the Statements Despite persistent threats from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been limited to concise remarks on X from Information Minister the minister. The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea describing it as "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a strategy of retaking former lands. Government spokespeople cautioned on mid-September that efforts to justify "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Security Movements on the Border So far, there are little evidence of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the both nations. Nevertheless, in the country, state television has broadcast training completions of numerous trainees at multiple army bases. The leader of staff section of the armed forces, General Hachalu, stated recently in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our opponents". Historical Origins of the Tension For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was ruled by Italian rulers. After the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the UK forces before becoming a integrated region of Ethiopia. Yet in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into Ethiopia. A extended civil war followed, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by the population in a referendum in 1993. Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, causing war in 1998. Although this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries remained at loggerheads. This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a announcement that the conflict was over – a move that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize. The neighboring states were then allies in the country's previous internal conflict in the northern region. However ties have since broken down once more.