Rising Verbal Conflict Among Ethiopia and Eritrean Government Triggers Anxieties of Armed Clash

Growing apprehensions exist regarding the possibility of warfare between Horn of Africa neighbors, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as aggressive language has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a intense war of words.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in last year that his government's access to the sea was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Ties between the two countries have frequently been strained. Following a prolonged fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in 1993, rendering it without sea access.

In 1998, a border war erupted in which numerous people were killed.

Current Remarks from Ethiopian Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and hinted at the intention to take it by force.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing entry to the sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "corrected tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrean Reaction to the Threats

In the face of ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to concise remarks on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for sea access labeling it "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "irredentism" – a strategy of claiming back lost territory.

Eritrean authorities alerted on 16 September that moves to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Ground

So far, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, state television has shown graduation ceremonies of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of human resources department of the defense force, the officer, commented lately in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Conflict

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, Eritrea was ruled by Italian colonisers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the British military before becoming a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the ruler cancelled this system and Eritrea became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long armed struggle ensued, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then approved by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the exact location of their shared boundary, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Although this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries continued at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders agreed to a announcement that the conflict was finished – a action that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The two governments were then allies in the country's previous armed struggle in the northern region.

Yet ties have subsequently deteriorated again.