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Growing concerns are present about the chance of armed conflict among East African neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational rhetoric has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has provoked a heated verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed initially stated publicly in the previous year that his government's sea access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the neighboring nations have often been tense. Following a prolonged fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a border war broke out in which numerous people were killed.

Recent Comments from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have openly claimed control of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and suggested the wish to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "corrected tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrean Answer to the Statements

Despite persistent threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to short statements on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for sea access calling it "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "expansionism" – a strategy of reclaiming previous domains.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on mid-September that efforts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Border

There have been no reports of major military movements in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast completion events of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The head of personnel division of the defense force, General Hachalu, recently said in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Previous Background of the Tension

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

Following World War II, it was then controlled by the British administration before becoming a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

But in 1962 the ruler ended this system and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year civil war occurred, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by the population in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Even though this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors remained at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two signed a announcement that the war was over – a move that won Abiy the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous civil war in Tigray.

But ties have since broken down again.