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Growing concerns exist about the chance of warfare among Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive language has escalated in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a fierce verbal exchange.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in the previous year that his nation's access to the sea was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea dismissed.

Relations between the both governments have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a territorial conflict broke out in which more than 100,000 people died.

Recent Statements from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrean southern port of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and suggested the intention to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrean Answer to the Statements

In the face of persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to brief comments on X from Information Minister Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of claiming back former lands.

The information ministry alerted on 16 September that moves to justify "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Border

So far, there are no reports of major military movements in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, national TV has shown training completions of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The leader of human resources department of the defense force, General Hachalu, stated recently in an conversation that the army was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Previous Roots of the Dispute

For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was ruled by Italian colonisers.

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

Yet in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long armed struggle followed, ending with military reversal in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by voters in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their common border, leading to conflict in 1998.

Though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations continued at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President the president. The two signed a statement that the conflict was concluded – a action that won the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The both administrations were then allies in Ethiopia's previous armed struggle in the northern region.

Yet ties have since broken down once more.