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Growing concerns are present about the chance of military engagement between East African neighbors, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile language has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a intense rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed initially stated publicly in the previous year that his country's maritime access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrea ignored.

Ties between the both governments have frequently been strained. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it without sea access.

Subsequently, a border war started in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and hinted at the intention to capture it through military means.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "rectified soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

Amid continuous warnings from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been limited to concise remarks 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 "expansionism" – a strategy of reclaiming previous domains.

Government spokespeople cautioned on recently that moves to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Border

There have been no reports of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast completion events of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The head of human resources department of the defense force, the officer, recently said in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Historical Background of the Tension

For over fifty years from 1890, the territory was ruled by Italian colonisers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British military before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long armed struggle ensued, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then approved by the population in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their shared boundary, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors continued at loggerheads.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two agreed to a declaration that the conflict was concluded – a action that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The both administrations were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray.

However diplomatic connections have later worsened once more.