🔗 Share this article Rising Rhetorical Battle Involving Ethiopian Government and Eritrea Sparks Fears of Military Confrontation Mounting worries exist over the chance of military engagement involving East African neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational rhetoric has intensified in the last month. Ethiopia and The Eritrean government worked together in the armed struggle in northern Ethiopia but they have later become estranged. What Did Ethiopia Declared? Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has sparked a fierce war of words. PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in last year that his nation's sea access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrea ignored. Ties between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it cut off from the sea. In 1998, a border war erupted in which more than 100,000 people were killed. Current Comments from Ethiopian Government Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and implied the intention to capture it through military means. In early September, Abiy said the country's "mistake" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "rectified in the future". The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "by force". Eritrea's Answer to the Threats Despite persistent threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to brief comments on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane G.. The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for sea access calling it "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back previous domains. Government spokespeople warned on recently that moves to validate "blatant hostility" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached". Security Activities on the Ground Currently, there are little evidence of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the two countries. Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has broadcast training completions of numerous trainees at multiple army bases. The leader of human resources department of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an discussion that the army was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our enemies". Past Roots of the Tension For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was governed by Italian rulers. After the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the UK forces before evolving into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire. However in 1962 the ruler cancelled this system and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state. A thirty-year armed struggle ensued, ending with military reversal in 1991. Independence was then endorsed by voters in a vote in 1993. For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the exact location of their shared boundary, causing hostilities in 1998. Although this ended in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations stayed at in dispute. This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders signed a announcement that the war was over – a move that won the Prime Minister the prestigious award. The neighboring states were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous civil war in Tigray. But relations have later worsened again.