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Increasing worries have emerged regarding the chance of armed conflict between Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as aggressive language has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

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

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in the previous year that his nation's sea access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have often been tense. Following a prolonged fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, making it without sea access.

In 1998, a territorial conflict started in which more than 100,000 people died.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and suggested the wish to seize it militarily.

Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "addressed tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Statements

In the face of continuous threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry labeling it "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "expansionism" – a strategy of retaking former lands.

The information ministry warned on mid-September that moves to validate "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Ground

So far, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, national TV has broadcast completion events of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The director of human resources department of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Past Background of the Conflict

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

After Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the British administration before becoming a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

But in the early 1960s the ruler ended this system and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

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

Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, resulting in war in 1998.

Although this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations stayed at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a announcement that the war was over – a decision that gained Abiy the prestigious award.

The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray.

But diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated again.