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Growing worries are present regarding the possibility of military engagement among East African neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive language has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has triggered a heated verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in last year that his government's sea access was an existential matter, comments that Eritrea ignored.

Ties between the both governments have often been tense. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it without sea access.

In 1998, a border war started in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Current Statements from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated control of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and suggested the wish to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "rectified tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrean Response to the Threats

Amid continuous warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to concise remarks on online platforms from Information Minister the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for sea access calling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a strategy of reclaiming lost territory.

The information ministry warned on mid-September that moves to validate "blatant hostility" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Activities on the Region

Currently, there are few indications of major military movements in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, national TV has broadcast training completions of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The director of personnel division of the military, General Hachalu, commented lately in an discussion that the military was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Historical Background of the Conflict

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was governed by Italian rulers.

Following World War II, it was then administered by the UK forces before becoming a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this agreement and Eritrea became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long internal conflict followed, finishing with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then endorsed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their common border, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Although this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations continued at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a declaration that the war was concluded – a move that earned the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's recent armed struggle in Tigray.

But relations have later worsened anew.