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Mounting apprehensions exist about the chance of armed conflict between Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational rhetoric has escalated in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated war of words.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in last year that his government's access to the sea was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Ties between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a long-standing battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, making it without sea access.

In 1998, a border war started in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Current Remarks from Ethiopia's Leadership

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted control of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and implied the desire to take it by force.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of losing entry to the sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "corrected in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Claims

Despite ongoing warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to short statements on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea labeling it "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a policy of reclaiming former lands.

Eritrean authorities alerted on 16 September that efforts to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Region

Currently, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in the country, state television has displayed graduation ceremonies of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The director of personnel division of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an discussion that the army was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Past Background of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was governed by colonial powers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the UK forces before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

But in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this agreement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year internal conflict ensued, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then confirmed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Although this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations remained at loggerheads.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two agreed to a announcement that the war was concluded – a action that earned the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then allies in the country's recent armed struggle in the northern region.

But relations have since broken down once more.