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Mounting worries have emerged about the possibility of military engagement among Horn of Africa neighbours, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as aggressive rhetoric has escalated in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated verbal exchange.

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

Relations between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a decades-long struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in 1993, rendering it landlocked.

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

Current Comments from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted control of Eritrean southern port of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and hinted at the intention to take it by force.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "rectified in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrean Reaction to the Statements

In the face of ongoing warnings from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been restricted to brief comments on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea calling it "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a policy of reclaiming former lands.

The information ministry cautioned on 16 September that moves to justify "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Region

Currently, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the two countries.

However, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown completion events of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of staff section of the armed forces, General Hachalu, commented lately in an discussion that the military was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Past Background of the Dispute

For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was administered by colonial powers.

After World War II, it was then managed by the UK forces before becoming a federated part of Ethiopia.

But in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this agreement and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year armed struggle followed, finishing with the government's loss in 1991. Autonomy was then endorsed by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, leading to war in 1998.

Though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors stayed at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders signed a statement that the war was finished – a action that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then partners in the country's 2020-2022 internal conflict in the northern region.

But diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated anew.