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Increasing worries exist regarding the potential of warfare between Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as aggressive rhetoric has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for entry to the sea coast through Eritrea has sparked a fierce verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in last year that his government's maritime access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea dismissed.

Relations between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. After a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict started in which numerous people died.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader the army commander have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and implied the intention to capture it through military means.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "error" of losing entry to the sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrean Reaction to the Threats

Amid continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to brief comments on X from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access labeling it "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "expansionism" – a approach of reclaiming lost territory.

Government spokespeople warned on 16 September that efforts to validate "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Region

So far, there are no reports of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, national TV has shown training completions of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The leader of human resources department of the military, General Hachalu, recently said in an discussion that the army was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Previous Origins of the Dispute

For over fifty years from 1890, Eritrea was governed by colonial powers.

After World War II, it was then controlled by the UK forces before becoming a federated part of Ethiopia.

But in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this agreement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year civil war ensued, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Independence was then endorsed by the population in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Though this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors continued at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President the president. The two endorsed a declaration that the conflict was finished – a move that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then partners in Ethiopia's previous internal conflict in Tigray.

Yet diplomatic connections have since broken down again.