🔗 Share this article Escalating War of Words Involving Ethiopia and Eritrean Government Triggers Anxieties of Military Confrontation Increasing apprehensions exist about the possibility of warfare among Horn of Africa neighbours, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as aggressive language has ratcheted up in recent weeks. Ethiopia and Eritrea cooperated in the civil war in northern Ethiopia but they have since fallen out. What Has Ethiopia Declared? Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has provoked a fierce war of words. The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in the previous year that his government's maritime access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities ignored. Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have often been tense. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a long sea border, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it cut off from the sea. Subsequently, a border war started in which over a hundred thousand people died. Current Comments from Ethiopia's Government Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and suggested the wish to take it by force. Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "addressed soon". The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "by force". Eritrean Reaction to the Statements Amid persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to brief comments on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane G.. The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea describing it as "risky" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a policy of reclaiming former lands. Eritrean authorities cautioned on recently that efforts to justify "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Defense Movements on the Border So far, there are no reports of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the two countries. Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, government media has broadcast completion events of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases. The director of staff section of the defense force, the officer, stated recently in an discussion that the military was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries". Past Origins of the Dispute For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was governed by Italian colonisers. Following the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the British military before turning into a associated territory of Ethiopia. However in 1962 the ruler ended this arrangement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into Ethiopia. A extended internal conflict followed, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Sovereignty was then confirmed by voters in a plebiscite in 1993. Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the exact location of their mutual frontier, causing conflict in 1998. Even though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors continued at in dispute. This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders agreed to a statement that the war was concluded – a move that earned Abiy the prestigious award. The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in Tigray. Yet diplomatic connections have since broken down anew.