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Mounting concerns have emerged regarding the possibility of warfare between Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive rhetoric has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has provoked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in the previous year that his country's sea access was an existential matter, comments that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Relations between the two countries have often been tense. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a military clash erupted in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and suggested the intention to take it by force.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "rectified in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Amid persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been restricted to short statements on social media from Information Minister Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea describing it as "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of reclaiming former lands.

The information ministry warned on mid-September that attempts to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Region

Currently, there are little evidence of major military movements in the frontier regions between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, state television has displayed completion events of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The director of staff section of the armed forces, General Hachalu, stated recently in an interview that the military was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Previous Origins of the Tension

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was ruled by Italian colonisers.

Following World War II, it was then administered by the British military before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

However in the early 1960s the ruler ended this agreement and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A extended armed struggle occurred, finishing with the government's loss in 1991. Sovereignty was then approved by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, resulting in war in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries continued at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the hostilities was finished – a action that gained Abiy the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then allies in the country's 2020-2022 internal conflict in the northern region.

However relations have later worsened anew.