🔗 Share this article Rising Rhetorical Battle Among Ethiopia and Eritrea Triggers Fears of Conflict Increasing concerns have emerged regarding the potential of armed conflict among East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as aggressive rhetoric has intensified in the past few weeks. The Ethiopian government and The Eritrean government cooperated in the armed struggle in northern Ethiopia but they have since fallen out. What Did Ethiopian Officials Declared? Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has sparked a intense war of words. PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in last year that his government's sea access was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrea dismissed. Diplomatic connections between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it without sea access. Five years later, a military clash started in which numerous people died. Current Remarks from Ethiopian Government Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and hinted at the wish to take it by force. Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "addressed soon". The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "using武力". Eritrean Answer to the Threats In the face of continuous warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head the minister. Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea describing it as "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "expansionism" – a policy of claiming back former lands. Government spokespeople warned on recently that moves to justify "blatant hostility" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Security Preparations on the Region There have been little evidence of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the neighboring states. Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has shown completion events of many recruits at different defense facilities. The head of human resources department of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our opponents". Past Roots of the Conflict For over fifty years from the late 19th century, Eritrea was ruled by Italian colonisers. After World War II, it was then controlled by the British military before evolving into a associated territory of Ethiopia. Yet in 1962 the ruler cancelled this system and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia. A thirty-year civil war followed, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Sovereignty was then confirmed by voters in a vote in 1993. For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their shared boundary, causing conflict in 1998. Although this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries continued at in dispute. This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the hostilities was finished – a decision that earned Abiy the international recognition. The neighboring states were then allies in the country's previous civil war in Tigray. But relations have later worsened anew.