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Growing worries have emerged regarding the possibility of warfare among Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational discourse has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in the previous year that his country's access to the sea was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. Following a long-standing fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked.

Five years later, a military clash erupted in which numerous people were killed.

Current Statements from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and suggested the wish to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "rectified tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrea's Response to the Claims

In the face of ongoing threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to short statements on social media from Communications Head the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for maritime entry calling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a approach of reclaiming former lands.

The information ministry warned on recently that moves to justify "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Region

So far, there are little evidence of major military movements in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, government media has displayed completion events of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The leader of personnel division of the military, the officer, commented lately in an conversation that the army was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Roots of the Dispute

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

After the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the UK forces before evolving into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the ruler terminated this system and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long armed struggle followed, concluding with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, causing war in 1998.

Even though this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries stayed at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two endorsed a statement that the conflict was over – a decision that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The both administrations were then partners in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in the northern region.

Yet relations have subsequently deteriorated once more.