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Mounting worries exist about the potential of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has provoked a fierce war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in the previous year that his country's access to the sea was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. Following a decades-long struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a extensive sea border, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a border war broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Latest Comments from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and suggested the intention to take it by force.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "addressed tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

Amid ongoing threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "expansionism" – a strategy of reclaiming lost territory.

The information ministry cautioned on recently that attempts to legitimise "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".

Security Activities on the Region

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

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has broadcast training completions of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The director of human resources department of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an interview that the army was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Previous Origins of the Conflict

For over fifty years from 1890, Eritrea was administered by colonial powers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the UK forces before becoming a integrated region of Ethiopia.

But in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor ended this system and Eritrea became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long internal conflict occurred, ending with military reversal in 1991. Sovereignty was then approved by voters in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, leading to war in 1998.

Though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries stayed at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders agreed to a statement that the war was over – a action that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 internal conflict in Tigray.

Yet diplomatic connections have later worsened once more.