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Mounting worries have emerged regarding the possibility of armed conflict among East African countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

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

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in last year that his government's maritime access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the both governments have frequently been strained. Following a prolonged battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopia in 1993, making it without sea access.

Five years later, a border war broke out in which numerous people lost their lives.

Current Remarks from Ethiopia's Leadership

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and implied the intention to capture it through military means.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access to the sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "corrected in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrean Answer to the Threats

In the face of ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to brief comments on X from Information Minister the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for maritime entry labeling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a policy of claiming back previous domains.

The information ministry warned on mid-September that attempts to justify "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Border

Currently, there are few indications of major military movements in the frontier regions between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, government media has displayed completion events of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The director of staff section of the military, General Hachalu, stated recently in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Historical Background of the Tension

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

After the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the UK forces before becoming a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

But in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this agreement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year armed struggle ensued, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then endorsed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their common border, resulting in war in 1998.

Even though this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors continued at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a announcement that the conflict was finished – a action that gained the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then partners in the country's previous civil war in Tigray.

But relations have subsequently deteriorated again.