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Increasing worries are present regarding the potential of armed conflict between East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has sparked a fierce war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in last year that his nation's maritime access was an existential matter, comments that Eritrea rejected.

Relations between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. Following a decades-long struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a military clash erupted in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and military leader the army commander have openly claimed control of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and hinted at the desire to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "corrected tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrea's Response to the Statements

Amid ongoing warnings from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been limited to concise remarks on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "irredentism" – a policy of claiming back lost territory.

The information ministry alerted on 16 September that attempts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Border

There have been little evidence of major military movements in the border areas between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has shown training completions of numerous trainees at multiple army bases.

The head of personnel division of the defense force, General Hachalu, recently said in an interview that the army was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Previous Roots of the Conflict

For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was ruled by Italian colonisers.

Following World War II, it was then managed by the UK forces before becoming a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor ended this agreement and Eritrea became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year civil war followed, finishing with the government's loss in 1991. Independence was then endorsed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, leading to war in 1998.

Although this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries stayed at loggerheads.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two signed a declaration that the hostilities was concluded – a action that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in the country's previous armed struggle in the northern region.

Yet ties have later worsened anew.