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Growing apprehensions have emerged regarding the potential of military engagement involving East African neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile discourse has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has triggered a intense rhetorical conflict.

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

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have frequently been strained. Following a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict erupted in which numerous people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and suggested the wish to take it by force.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "rectified soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

In the face of persistent warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea describing it as "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople warned on mid-September that attempts to validate "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Ground

So far, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast completion events of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The leader of human resources department of the armed forces, General Hachalu, recently said in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Historical Roots of the Tension

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

Following World War II, it was then controlled by the British military before becoming a federated part of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this agreement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A extended civil war occurred, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy 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 Asmara, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their common border, causing hostilities in 1998.

Even though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries remained at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders agreed to a declaration that the hostilities was finished – a decision that earned the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

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

But diplomatic connections have since broken down anew.