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Increasing apprehensions are present about the potential of military engagement among Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile language has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrea has provoked a intense war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in the previous year that his country's maritime access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrea ignored.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, rendering it without sea access.

In 1998, a military clash started in which numerous people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated control of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and hinted at the intention to seize it militarily.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "error" of losing access to the sea as a because of Eritrea's separation would be "corrected tomorrow".

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

Eritrean Response to the Claims

Amid persistent warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access calling it "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of claiming back previous domains.

The information ministry cautioned on 16 September that moves to validate "obvious provocation" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Border

There have been few indications of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in the country, national TV has broadcast completion events of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The head of personnel division of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an discussion that the army was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Previous Background of the Tension

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, Eritrea was administered by Italian colonisers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the British administration before evolving into a associated territory of Ethiopia.

But in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this system and Eritrea became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A extended internal conflict ensued, finishing with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then endorsed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, causing conflict in 1998.

Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors remained at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two signed a announcement that the hostilities was finished – a decision that won Abiy the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then cooperators in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in the northern region.

However diplomatic connections have later worsened once more.