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Mounting worries are present over the possibility of warfare between Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has escalated in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for passage to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has sparked a heated verbal exchange.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in last year that his nation's maritime access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the two countries have often been tense. After a prolonged battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it without sea access.

Five years later, a territorial conflict erupted in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and military leader the army commander have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and implied the wish 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 Eritrean independence would be "rectified tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

Amid persistent threats from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been restricted to brief comments on X from Communications Head the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for sea access labeling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of reclaiming lost territory.

Government spokespeople warned on mid-September that efforts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Region

Currently, there are little evidence of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the both nations.

However, in Ethiopia, government media has broadcast graduation ceremonies of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The director of human resources department of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an conversation that the military was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Historical Background of the Tension

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

After the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the UK forces before turning into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this system and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long internal conflict occurred, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then endorsed by voters in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the exact location of their shared boundary, causing war in 1998.

Even though this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the two nations remained at odds.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two endorsed a declaration that the war was over – a action that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

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

However diplomatic connections have later worsened once more.