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Increasing concerns have emerged over the possibility of warfare involving Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as aggressive language has escalated in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has triggered a fierce verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in last year that his government's sea access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Ties between the both governments have often been tense. Following a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, making it landlocked.

Subsequently, a border war erupted in which numerous people lost their lives.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and suggested the wish to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "error" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea's separation would be "addressed in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrea's Answer to the Claims

Amid persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for sea access describing it as "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a strategy of claiming back former lands.

Eritrean authorities alerted on mid-September that attempts to validate "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".

Defense Movements on the Border

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

However, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The leader of personnel division of the defense force, the officer, stated recently in an discussion that the army was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Past Roots of the Conflict

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was administered by colonial powers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the British military before evolving into a associated territory of Ethiopia.

Yet in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long civil war ensued, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Independence was then confirmed by voters in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Though this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations continued at odds.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader the president. The two agreed to a statement that the hostilities was concluded – a action that earned the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The both administrations were then partners in the country's 2020-2022 internal conflict in the northern region.

Yet diplomatic connections have since broken down again.