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Mounting worries have emerged about the chance of warfare among East African neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as aggressive language has escalated in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has triggered a fierce verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in the previous year that his country's access to the sea was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrea ignored.

Relations between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a prolonged battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a long sea border, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked.

In 1998, a border war broke out in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Recent Statements from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated control of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and suggested the intention to seize it militarily.

In early September, Abiy said the country's "mistake" of losing entry to the sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "rectified tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrean Reaction to the Threats

Despite continuous challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to short statements on X from Communications Head the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a approach of claiming back former lands.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on 16 September that moves to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Ground

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

However, in the country, national TV has broadcast training completions of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The leader of human resources department of the armed forces, the officer, stated recently in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Tension

For over fifty years from 1890, Eritrea was administered by Italian colonisers.

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

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year internal conflict occurred, ending with military reversal in 1991. Independence was then approved by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, leading to war in 1998.

Although this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors continued at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the war was concluded – a move that won the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The two governments were then allies in Ethiopia's recent civil war in Tigray.

However diplomatic connections have since broken down once more.