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Increasing worries are present regarding the potential of armed conflict among Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has escalated in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has sparked a fierce war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in the previous year that his country's sea access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the both governments have frequently been strained. Following a long-standing struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in 1993, making it landlocked.

Subsequently, a military clash started in which over a hundred thousand people were killed.

Current Comments from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrean southern port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and suggested the intention to seize it militarily.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "addressed tomorrow".

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

Eritrea's Reaction to the Claims

Despite ongoing threats from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been confined to concise remarks on X from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for sea access labeling it "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of retaking lost territory.

Government spokespeople cautioned on 16 September that efforts to justify "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Ground

So far, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the both nations.

However, in Ethiopia, government media has shown graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The head of human resources department of the defense force, the officer, stated recently in an discussion that the army was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Previous Origins of the Dispute

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was governed by Italian colonisers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the British military before evolving into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

But in 1962 the ruler ended this agreement and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A extended armed struggle ensued, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their common border, leading to conflict in 1998.

Although this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors stayed at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a statement that the war was concluded – a move that won Abiy the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then cooperators in the country's recent civil war in Tigray.

However ties have subsequently deteriorated again.