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Increasing concerns exist regarding the possibility of warfare involving Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as hostile discourse has intensified in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a fierce war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in last year that his country's sea access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Relations between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a long-standing battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a extensive maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it landlocked.

Subsequently, a military clash started in which numerous people died.

Latest Statements from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and suggested the intention to seize it militarily.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing entry to the sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "corrected soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Despite persistent threats from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been restricted to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for sea access calling it "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a policy of reclaiming lost territory.

Eritrean authorities alerted on recently that attempts to justify "blatant hostility" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Region

So far, there are few indications of major military movements in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nevertheless, in the country, state television has shown training completions of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The leader of human resources department of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Historical Roots of the Tension

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

Following World War II, it was then administered by the UK forces before turning into a federated part of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this agreement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended civil war ensued, concluding with military reversal in 1991. Sovereignty was then approved by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, leading to conflict in 1998.

Although this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries remained at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders signed a announcement that the conflict was finished – a action that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The two governments were then partners in Ethiopia's previous armed struggle in the northern region.

However diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated again.