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Growing worries are present regarding the possibility of military engagement involving Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile discourse has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for entry to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has triggered a fierce rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in last year that his country's maritime access was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrea rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have often been tense. After a decades-long battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, making it landlocked.

Subsequently, a military clash broke out in which over a hundred thousand people were killed.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and suggested the intention to seize it militarily.

Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of being denied passage to the sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "addressed in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrean Reaction to the Statements

Despite persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been limited to brief comments on social media from Communications Head the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for sea access calling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a policy of reclaiming previous domains.

The information ministry cautioned on mid-September that efforts to justify "obvious provocation" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Ground

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

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has displayed training completions of many recruits at various military training camps.

The director of human resources department of the military, the officer, recently said in an conversation that the army was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Past Background of the Conflict

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, Eritrea was governed by Italian colonisers.

Following World War II, it was then administered by the British military before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

Yet in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor ended this agreement and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long internal conflict occurred, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then confirmed by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, leading to war in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries continued at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the conflict was concluded – a move that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then partners in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 internal conflict in the northern region.

But ties have since broken down again.