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Growing apprehensions have emerged over the potential of military engagement involving Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as aggressive language has escalated in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has provoked a intense rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in last year that his nation's maritime access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Ties between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it without sea access.

Five years later, a border war broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and hinted at the intention to take it by force.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "error" of losing entry to the sea as a result of Eritrean independence 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 given back "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Threats

Amid persistent warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been restricted to brief comments on social media from Information Minister the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access describing it as "risky" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a approach of reclaiming previous domains.

Eritrean authorities warned on recently that attempts to validate "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Border

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

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

The director of personnel division of the defense force, the officer, stated recently in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Tension

For decades from 1890, the territory was governed by Italian rulers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the UK forces before becoming a integrated region of Ethiopia.

But in the early 1960s the ruler terminated this system and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long civil war followed, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then endorsed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, leading to conflict in 1998.

Although this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations stayed at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders agreed to a announcement that the war was finished – a action that gained the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The two governments were then cooperators in the country's 2020-2022 armed struggle in Tigray.

But diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated once more.