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Increasing concerns have emerged regarding the potential of military engagement among East African countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as aggressive language has intensified in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in last year that his country's maritime access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Relations between the two countries have frequently been strained. Following a prolonged battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict started in which numerous people were killed.

Latest Comments from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and hinted at the desire to seize it militarily.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a because of Eritrea's separation would be "addressed in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrean Response to the Claims

In the face of continuous threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a policy of retaking previous domains.

The information ministry alerted on 16 September that moves to justify "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Border

There have been little evidence of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the neighboring states.

However, in Ethiopia, national TV has displayed graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The leader of staff section of the armed forces, the officer, stated recently in an discussion that the army was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Past Roots of the Dispute

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was governed by colonial powers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the British administration before becoming a federated part of Ethiopia.

However in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this system and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year internal conflict ensued, ending with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then endorsed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their common border, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Although this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors stayed at odds.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two signed a declaration that the hostilities was concluded – a action that won Abiy the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 internal conflict in the northern region.

But ties have later worsened again.