🔗 Share this article Escalating War of Words Among Ethiopian Government and Eritrea Sparks Anxieties of Conflict Mounting apprehensions exist over the possibility of military engagement involving Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational discourse has intensified in the past few weeks. Ethiopia and Eritrea worked together in the armed struggle in Tigray but they have later become estranged. What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated? Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a fierce verbal exchange. PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in last year that his government's maritime access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities dismissed. Diplomatic connections between the both governments have frequently been strained. After a decades-long battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked. In 1998, a border war started in which over a hundred thousand people were killed. Current Remarks from Ethiopia's Government Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and suggested the wish to seize it militarily. On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access 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 Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "usingæ¦åŠ›". Eritrea's Reaction to the Threats Despite ongoing challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to concise remarks on social media from Information Minister Yemane G.. Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "irredentism" – a approach of claiming back lost territory. The information ministry alerted on recently that efforts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Defense Movements on the Border There have been few indications of major military movements in the boundary zones between the both nations. Nonetheless, in the country, national TV has shown training completions of numerous trainees at various military training camps. The leader of human resources department of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an interview that the military was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries". Previous Origins of the Tension For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was ruled by Italian rulers. After the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the British military before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia. Yet in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia. A thirty-year internal conflict ensued, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then endorsed by voters in a referendum in 1993. Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, leading to war in 1998. Even though this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors continued at odds. This ended in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders agreed to a announcement that the conflict was concluded – a action that gained Abiy the prestigious award. The neighboring states were then allies in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray. But relations have since broken down once more.