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Increasing concerns are present about the chance of armed conflict among Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as aggressive rhetoric has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has sparked a intense rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in the previous year that his nation's access to the sea was an vital issue, statements that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the both governments have often been tense. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in 1993, rendering it landlocked.

Five years later, a border war broke out in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – about 60km from the border - and hinted at the intention to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "addressed in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

Despite ongoing challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been confined to brief comments on X from Communications Head Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for maritime entry describing it as "risky" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back lost territory.

The information ministry warned on recently that efforts to validate "obvious provocation" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Region

Currently, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, state television has displayed graduation ceremonies of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The leader of staff section of the military, the officer, commented lately in an conversation that the military was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Previous Origins of the Conflict

For over fifty years from 1890, the territory was governed by Italian rulers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the UK forces before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

But in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor ended this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year civil war ensued, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then confirmed by the population in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, leading to conflict in 1998.

Even though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors continued at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders endorsed a announcement that the war was finished – a decision that gained the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

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

Yet relations have later worsened anew.