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Increasing worries have emerged over the potential of armed conflict between Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrea has triggered a heated war of words.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in the previous year that his nation's sea access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea ignored.

Ties between the both governments have frequently been strained. Following a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a extensive maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.

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

Latest Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and hinted at the wish to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "corrected in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrean Reaction to the Threats

In the face of persistent threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to short statements on X from Information Minister the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for maritime entry calling it "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a policy of claiming back former lands.

Government spokespeople alerted on mid-September that attempts to validate "obvious provocation" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Region

There have been no reports of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has broadcast training completions of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The director of human resources department of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an interview that the military was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Historical Roots of the Dispute

For over fifty years from 1890, the territory was governed by Italian rulers.

Following World War II, it was then administered by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year armed struggle ensued, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Autonomy was then confirmed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, causing hostilities in 1998.

Even though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries continued at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a announcement that the hostilities was finished – a move that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then partners in the country's previous internal conflict in Tigray.

However diplomatic connections have later worsened anew.