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Growing worries are present about the possibility of warfare involving Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile language has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for access to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has triggered a intense war of words.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in the previous year that his country's maritime access was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Ties between the two countries have often been tense. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it landlocked.

In 1998, a military clash started in which more than 100,000 people died.

Latest Statements from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and suggested the intention to take it by force.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "corrected tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrean Response to the Threats

Amid continuous threats from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to concise remarks on online platforms from Information Minister the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access labeling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a approach of retaking lost territory.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on 16 September that efforts to justify "blatant hostility" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Border

There have been no reports of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in the country, national TV has broadcast training completions of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The director of personnel division of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Conflict

For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was administered by Italian rulers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British administration before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in 1962 the ruler cancelled this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long civil war occurred, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then confirmed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Although this finished in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the two nations continued at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a statement that the conflict was finished – a action that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in the country's 2020-2022 civil war in the northern region.

Yet diplomatic connections have later worsened once more.