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Increasing worries are present over the possibility of warfare involving East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as aggressive rhetoric has escalated in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has provoked a intense rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in last year that his government's access to the sea was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Relations between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

Five years later, a territorial conflict started in which more than 100,000 people died.

Current Comments from Ethiopian Officials

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and suggested the intention to take it by force.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of being denied passage to the sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

Despite persistent warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to concise remarks on X from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry labeling it "risky" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of reclaiming former lands.

Eritrean authorities warned on recently that attempts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Border

There have been little evidence of major military movements in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

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

The leader of human resources department of the armed forces, General Hachalu, stated recently in an interview that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Previous Origins of the Conflict

For over fifty years from 1890, the territory was administered by colonial powers.

After World War II, it was then controlled by the British military before becoming a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor terminated this agreement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A extended armed struggle occurred, finishing with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then approved by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, resulting in war in 1998.

Although this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries remained at odds.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two signed a declaration that the war was finished – a action that earned the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The two governments were then cooperators in the country's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray.

Yet ties have later worsened once more.