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Increasing concerns exist about the possibility of armed conflict among Horn of Africa neighbours, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as hostile rhetoric has intensified in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has provoked a heated rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in last year that his nation's maritime access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Ties between the neighboring nations have often been tense. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a territorial conflict started in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Current Comments from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have openly claimed control of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and suggested the intention to capture it through military means.

Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "addressed tomorrow".

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

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

Amid continuous challenges from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to short statements on X from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for sea access calling it "risky" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a strategy of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople cautioned on mid-September that efforts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Region

There have been no reports of major military movements in the boundary zones between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown training completions of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The head of staff section of the armed forces, the officer, stated recently in an discussion that the army was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Historical Background of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was ruled by Italian rulers.

After World War II, it was then administered by the British administration before evolving into a federated part of Ethiopia.

But in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended civil war ensued, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Independence was then endorsed by voters in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the exact location of their shared boundary, leading to conflict in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the two nations stayed at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders signed a declaration that the hostilities was finished – a decision that gained Abiy the international recognition.

The both administrations were then partners in the country's previous civil war in the northern region.

However diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated again.