🔗 Share this article Escalating Rhetorical Battle Between Ethiopia and Eritrean Government Triggers Anxieties of Armed Clash Increasing concerns exist about the potential of armed conflict among East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in the last month. Ethiopia and The Eritrean government worked together in the internal conflict in Tigray but they have since fallen out. What Has Ethiopia Declared? Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a fierce verbal exchange. PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in 2023 that his government's maritime access was an existential matter, comments that Eritrea dismissed. Ties between the both governments have often been tense. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it without sea access. Five years later, a border war broke out in which over a hundred thousand people were killed. Recent Statements from Ethiopian Leadership Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrean coastal city of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and hinted at the desire to capture it through military means. On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of being denied passage to the sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "corrected tomorrow". Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "by force". Eritrea's Response to the Statements In the face of persistent warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to short statements on X from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel. The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea calling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a approach of retaking former lands. Government spokespeople cautioned on 16 September that attempts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Defense Movements on the Ground There have been no reports of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the both nations. However, in Ethiopia, state television has displayed training completions of numerous trainees at various military training camps. The head of human resources department of the military, General Hachalu, stated recently in an interview that the military was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our enemies". Historical Background of the Conflict For more than half a century from the late 19th century, Eritrea was governed by Italian colonisers. Following Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire. Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state. A three-decade long armed struggle followed, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by the population in a plebiscite in 1993. For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their common border, leading to conflict in 1998. Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries continued at in dispute. This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the war was over – a move that won the Prime Minister the prestigious award. The two governments were then allies in Ethiopia's recent civil war in Tigray. However relations have later worsened anew.