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Growing worries are present regarding the potential of military engagement involving East African neighbors, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as confrontational rhetoric has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a fierce rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in last year that his country's sea access was an existential matter, statements that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Ties between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a prolonged battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a extensive maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, rendering it landlocked.

Subsequently, a military clash erupted in which more than 100,000 people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and implied the intention to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of being denied passage to the sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "corrected soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Claims

Despite ongoing challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been restricted to concise remarks on online platforms from Information Minister the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry labeling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a approach of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople alerted on 16 September that moves to validate "obvious provocation" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Border

Currently, there are little evidence of major military movements in the border areas between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, national TV has displayed completion events of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of personnel division of the military, the officer, recently said in an interview that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Roots of the Tension

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, Eritrea was governed by Italian colonisers.

After World War II, it was then administered by the British administration before evolving into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this system and Eritrea became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A extended civil war followed, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then confirmed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

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

Although this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the two nations remained at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the hostilities was finished – a decision that earned the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then partners in the country's 2020-2022 internal conflict in Tigray.

Yet diplomatic connections have since broken down again.