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Growing concerns exist about the chance of military engagement involving East African neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has provoked a heated rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in the previous year that his nation's access to the sea was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, rendering it landlocked.

Subsequently, a military clash erupted in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Current Statements from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and suggested the desire to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "mistake" of being denied passage to the sea as a because of Eritrea's separation would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrean Response to the Threats

Despite ongoing challenges from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been confined to short statements on social media from Communications Head Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for maritime entry describing it as "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a strategy of claiming back former lands.

The information ministry cautioned on 16 September that efforts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Border

There have been few indications of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

However, in Ethiopia, national TV has displayed completion events of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The head of staff section of the defense force, General Hachalu, commented lately in an interview that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Previous Origins of the Conflict

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, Eritrea was governed by Italian colonisers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the British administration before becoming a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor terminated this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long internal conflict ensued, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then endorsed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, causing conflict in 1998.

Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries continued at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders signed a declaration that the war was finished – a action that gained Abiy the international recognition.

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

But ties have since broken down again.