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Growing apprehensions have emerged regarding the chance of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational discourse has intensified in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has sparked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in last year that his nation's maritime access was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

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

Current Comments from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted control of Eritrean southern port of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and suggested the intention to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of being denied passage to the sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrea's Response to the Threats

In the face of persistent warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been restricted to short statements on X from Information Minister the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea calling it "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back previous domains.

The information ministry warned on recently that moves to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Border

So far, there are little evidence of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in the country, national TV has shown training completions of numerous trainees at multiple army bases.

The head of human resources department of the military, the officer, commented lately in an conversation that the military was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Historical Background of the Conflict

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, the territory was ruled by colonial powers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the British military before turning into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this agreement and Eritrea became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A extended armed struggle ensued, concluding with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by voters in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, causing conflict in 1998.

Even though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations continued at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President the president. The two endorsed a statement that the hostilities was over – a decision that gained Abiy the prestigious award.

The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous civil war in the northern region.

But ties have subsequently deteriorated again.