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Increasing worries have emerged about the possibility of military engagement involving East African neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile language has escalated in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for passage to the sea coast through Eritrea has sparked a heated rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in last year that his country's access to the sea was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Ties between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it without sea access.

Five years later, a military clash erupted in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Current Statements from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and implied the wish to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea's separation would be "addressed tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrea's Answer to the Claims

Despite ongoing warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to short statements on X from Communications Head the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry labeling it "risky" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a policy of claiming back lost territory.

The information ministry warned on mid-September that moves to justify "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Ground

There have been few indications of major military movements in the boundary zones between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, government media has displayed graduation ceremonies of many recruits at various military training camps.

The director of staff section of the armed forces, the officer, recently said in an interview that the army was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Previous Roots of the Tension

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

After World War II, it was then managed by the UK forces before becoming a integrated region of Ethiopia.

But in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long armed struggle ensued, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then endorsed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the exact location of their shared boundary, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors continued at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two endorsed a announcement that the hostilities was over – a decision that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then allies in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 armed struggle in Tigray.

But ties have later worsened once more.