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Increasing worries have emerged over the potential of warfare between Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational language has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has provoked a heated verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in the previous year that his government's access to the sea was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Ties between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it landlocked.

Five years later, a military clash erupted in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and suggested the desire to take it by force.

On 1 September, Abiy said the country's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "rectified tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrean Reaction to the Statements

Despite ongoing warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to brief comments on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea labeling it "risky" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a policy of retaking previous domains.

The information ministry warned on recently that attempts to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Region

Currently, there are few indications of major military movements in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has shown completion events of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The director of personnel division of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an interview that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Past Roots of the Dispute

For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was governed by Italian rulers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the British military before evolving into a federated part of Ethiopia.

But in 1962 the ruler ended this system and Eritrea became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year armed struggle ensued, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then endorsed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, causing conflict in 1998.

Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors remained at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the hostilities was finished – a action that won 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 ties have later worsened again.