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Growing worries are present about the potential of armed conflict among East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile language has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a fierce war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed initially stated publicly in the previous year that his government's access to the sea was an existential matter, comments that Eritrea rejected.

Relations between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it without sea access.

Five years later, a territorial conflict erupted in which numerous people lost their lives.

Current Statements from Ethiopian Officials

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and implied the wish to seize it militarily.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "corrected soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrean Response to the Claims

In the face of continuous challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been restricted to short statements on X from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for sea access calling it "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a approach of reclaiming former lands.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on mid-September that attempts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Activities on the Ground

There have been little evidence of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has shown graduation ceremonies of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The head of human resources department of the defense force, the officer, commented lately in an conversation that the army was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Historical Origins of the Dispute

For over fifty years from 1890, Eritrea was governed by Italian colonisers.

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

Yet in 1962 the ruler terminated this system and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year internal conflict occurred, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Autonomy was then confirmed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, causing hostilities in 1998.

Though this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries stayed at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders signed a statement that the conflict was over – a decision that won Abiy the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then allies in the country's previous internal conflict in Tigray.

Yet ties have subsequently deteriorated once more.