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Increasing apprehensions are present about the possibility of military engagement involving Horn of Africa neighbors, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has intensified in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a intense war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in last year that his nation's sea access was an existential matter, statements that Eritrea rejected.

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

Five years later, a territorial conflict started in which numerous people were killed.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and implied the desire to seize it militarily.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "addressed in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrean Reaction to the Threats

Amid ongoing challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been limited to brief comments on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for maritime entry describing it as "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "irredentism" – a policy of claiming back lost territory.

The information ministry cautioned on recently that efforts to validate "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Activities on the Ground

So far, there are little evidence of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in the country, national TV has broadcast completion events of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The head of human resources department of the military, General Hachalu, stated recently in an conversation that the army was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Historical Roots of the Conflict

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was administered by Italian rulers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the UK forces before evolving into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor ended this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year internal conflict ensued, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors remained at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders signed a announcement that the war was over – a action that gained the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

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

But diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated once more.