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Increasing apprehensions exist regarding the potential of warfare among Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile language has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in the previous year that his nation's access to the sea was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have often been tense. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in 1993, rendering it without sea access.

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

Latest Comments from Ethiopian Officials

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and implied the desire to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea's separation would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Answer to the Claims

Amid continuous challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to brief comments on X from Communications Head Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a strategy of retaking previous domains.

The information ministry warned on mid-September that efforts to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Border

Currently, there are no reports of major military movements in the border areas between the neighboring states.

However, in Ethiopia, government media has displayed training completions of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The director of human resources department of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an discussion that the army was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Past Background of the Tension

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

Following World War II, it was then managed by the British administration before turning into a federated part of Ethiopia.

However in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this agreement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended internal conflict followed, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Independence was then approved by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, leading to conflict in 1998.

Although this ended in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations continued at odds.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two endorsed a statement that the conflict was concluded – a decision that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then allies in the country's 2020-2022 internal conflict in Tigray.

Yet diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated once more.