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Mounting concerns are present regarding the potential of warfare among Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile rhetoric has intensified in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has triggered a intense rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in last year that his nation's maritime access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea rejected.

Ties between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it without sea access.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict started in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrea's southern port of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and hinted at the intention to take it by force.

On 1 September, Abiy said the country's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Despite ongoing warnings from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been limited to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea describing it as "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back former lands.

The information ministry alerted on mid-September that attempts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Border

So far, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the neighboring states.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, government media has displayed training completions of many recruits at various military training camps.

The director of staff section of the military, General Hachalu, stated recently in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Past Roots of the Conflict

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

After Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the UK forces before becoming a federated part of Ethiopia.

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long armed struggle occurred, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then confirmed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, causing conflict in 1998.

Though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors continued at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the war was finished – a decision that gained Abiy the international recognition.

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

Yet ties have later worsened anew.