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Growing concerns are present over the potential of warfare involving East African neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile language has escalated in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrea has triggered a fierce war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in 2023 that his government's access to the sea was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Relations between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in 1993, making it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a border war started in which numerous people were killed.

Recent Comments from Ethiopia's Leadership

Abiy and military leader the army commander have publicly asserted control of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and implied the intention to seize it militarily.

In early September, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "rectified in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Amid persistent threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to brief comments on online platforms from Communications Head the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea describing it as "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a approach of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry cautioned on recently that moves to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Ground

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

However, in the country, national TV has displayed completion events of many recruits at various military training camps.

The head of personnel division of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Past Origins of the Tension

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

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this agreement and Eritrea became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long civil war followed, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then approved by voters in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the exact location of their common border, leading to conflict in 1998.

Although this finished in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries remained at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders signed a statement that the war was finished – a move that earned Abiy the international recognition.

The two governments were then allies in the country's previous armed struggle in Tigray.

Yet diplomatic connections have since broken down once more.