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Growing concerns exist over the potential of warfare between East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile language has escalated in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a intense rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in 2023 that his country's maritime access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have often been tense. Following a prolonged fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict erupted in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Current Comments from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and implied the wish to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, Abiy said the country's "error" of losing entry to the sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "addressed tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrean Response to the Claims

In the face of ongoing warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to concise remarks on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for maritime entry calling it "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a policy of retaking former lands.

The information ministry warned on 16 September that moves to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Border

So far, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in the country, state television has broadcast completion events of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The director of staff section of the armed forces, the officer, stated recently in an interview that the military was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Previous Origins of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was ruled by colonial powers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the British administration before evolving into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

However in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this agreement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year civil war ensued, concluding with the government's loss in 1991. Autonomy was then endorsed by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, causing hostilities in 1998.

Though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors stayed at loggerheads.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader the president. The two endorsed a declaration that the war was concluded – a action that gained the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then allies in the country's previous armed struggle in the northern region.

Yet diplomatic connections have later worsened again.