🔗 Share this article Escalating Verbal Conflict Between Ethiopia and Eritrea Sparks Concerns of Armed Clash Growing apprehensions are present over the chance of armed conflict involving East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as aggressive rhetoric has ratcheted up in the last month. Ethiopia and Eritrea worked together in the internal conflict in Tigray but they have subsequently disagreed. What Did Ethiopian Officials Declared? Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has triggered a heated verbal exchange. Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in the previous year that his government's maritime access was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrea dismissed. Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. After a long-standing battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it without sea access. Subsequently, a territorial conflict erupted in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives. Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Leadership Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and suggested the desire to capture it through military means. In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "corrected soon". The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "by force". Eritrea's Response to the Claims In the face of continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to brief comments on social media from Information Minister Yemane G.. Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for sea access describing it as "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of claiming back previous domains. The information ministry cautioned on mid-September that moves to validate "obvious provocation" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Military Movements on the Region Currently, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the two countries. Nonetheless, in the country, government media has broadcast completion events of thousands of cadets at various military training camps. The head of personnel division of the defense force, General Hachalu, commented lately in an interview that the military was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our enemies". Past Origins of the Tension For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was administered by Italian rulers. After World War II, it was then controlled by the British administration before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire. Yet in the early 1960s the ruler cancelled this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state. A thirty-year civil war followed, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by voters in a referendum in 1993. For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, leading to war in 1998. Even though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries continued at odds. This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two agreed to a statement that the conflict was finished – a move that gained Abiy the international recognition. The two governments were then allies in the country's 2020-2022 armed struggle in Tigray. Yet relations have since broken down anew.