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Growing worries exist over the chance of warfare between Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive rhetoric has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has sparked a intense verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in 2023 that his country's maritime access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Relations between the two countries have often been tense. Following a prolonged fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a extensive maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a military clash started in which numerous people lost their lives.

Recent Comments from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader the army commander have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and hinted at the desire to seize it militarily.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "rectified in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Statements

In the face of ongoing warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been confined to concise remarks on X from Information Minister the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for sea access labeling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a strategy of claiming back lost territory.

Government spokespeople alerted on mid-September that efforts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Border

Currently, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown training completions of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The head of personnel division of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an discussion that the military was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Past Origins of the Conflict

For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was administered by Italian colonisers.

After World War II, it was then controlled by the British military before evolving into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

But in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long internal conflict occurred, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then approved by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their common border, causing hostilities in 1998.

Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations continued at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders agreed to a announcement that the hostilities was finished – a decision that earned the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then allies in the country's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray.

Yet ties have since broken down once more.