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Increasing worries have emerged regarding the possibility of armed conflict involving Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile discourse has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for access to the sea coast through Eritrea has provoked a heated war of words.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in the previous year that his nation's access to the sea was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Relations between the both governments have regularly been difficult. Following a prolonged battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it without sea access.

Subsequently, a military clash broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Leadership

Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and implied the intention to seize it militarily.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "corrected soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Threats

Amid persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been confined to concise remarks on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access describing it as "risky" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a policy of reclaiming former lands.

The information ministry warned on mid-September that moves to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Region

So far, there are no reports of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the both nations.

However, in Ethiopia, national TV has broadcast graduation ceremonies of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The leader of personnel division of the military, General Hachalu, commented lately in an interview that the military was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Historical Roots of the Conflict

For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was ruled by Italian colonisers.

After World War II, it was then controlled by the UK forces before evolving into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

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

A thirty-year armed struggle occurred, ending with military reversal in 1991. Sovereignty was then approved by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, leading to war in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations remained at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two endorsed a declaration that the conflict was finished – a action that gained the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then partners in Ethiopia's recent civil war in Tigray.

However relations have since broken down once more.