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Growing apprehensions are present regarding the chance of warfare involving East African countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has escalated in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrea has provoked a heated war of words.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in last year that his nation's access to the sea was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the two countries have often been tense. Following a prolonged struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a long Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it landlocked.

Five years later, a military clash started in which numerous people lost their lives.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and suggested the wish to take it by force.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "addressed in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrean Reaction to the Claims

Amid persistent threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to short statements on X from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for maritime entry calling it "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a approach of reclaiming lost territory.

Government spokespeople warned on 16 September that moves to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Border

There have been little evidence of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the two countries.

However, in Ethiopia, government media has shown graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The leader of personnel division of the military, the officer, recently said in an discussion that the military was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Past Roots of the Conflict

For decades from the late 19th century, Eritrea was ruled by Italian colonisers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the UK forces before turning into a associated territory of Ethiopia.

But in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A extended civil war followed, concluding with the government's loss in 1991. Sovereignty was then approved by the population in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the exact location of their common border, leading to conflict in 1998.

Though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries remained at odds.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders signed a declaration that the war was concluded – a action that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The both administrations were then allies in Ethiopia's recent armed struggle in Tigray.

But relations have since broken down again.