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Growing apprehensions are present about the possibility of warfare involving Horn of Africa neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational discourse has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has triggered a heated rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in the previous year that his government's maritime access was an existential matter, statements that Eritrea rejected.

Ties between the two countries have regularly been difficult. Following a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it without sea access.

Five years later, a border war erupted in which over a hundred thousand people were killed.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and implied the intention to seize it militarily.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "addressed tomorrow".

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

Eritrean Response to the Claims

Amid ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been limited to concise remarks on social media from Information Minister Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for sea access describing it as "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a approach of reclaiming former lands.

The information ministry alerted on 16 September that moves to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Border

Currently, there are little evidence of major military movements in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nevertheless, in the country, national TV has broadcast training completions of many recruits at various military training camps.

The director of human resources department of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an interview that the army was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Historical Roots of the Dispute

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, the territory was governed by colonial powers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the UK forces before turning into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this agreement and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year civil war followed, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then confirmed by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their common border, leading to conflict in 1998.

Although this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors stayed at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two endorsed a declaration that the conflict was finished – a decision that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The both administrations were then partners in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 civil war in the northern region.

But diplomatic connections have since broken down again.