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Growing apprehensions exist over the chance of military engagement among Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has escalated in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has sparked a heated verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed initially stated publicly in last year that his government's maritime access was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Ties between the both governments have often been tense. After a decades-long battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

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

Current Comments from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and hinted at the intention to take it by force.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of being denied passage to the sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "addressed tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrea's Response to the Statements

Amid ongoing challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been restricted to brief comments on X from Information Minister Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for sea access calling it "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "expansionism" – a policy of retaking lost territory.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on 16 September that attempts to validate "obvious provocation" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Region

Currently, there are no reports of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast training completions of numerous trainees at multiple army bases.

The leader of human resources department of the defense force, General Hachalu, stated recently in an conversation that the military was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Past Origins of the Tension

For decades from 1890, the territory was administered by Italian rulers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the UK forces before evolving into a federated part of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A extended internal conflict ensued, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then endorsed by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries continued at odds.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two agreed to a announcement that the conflict was over – a move that gained Abiy the prestigious award.

The two governments were then cooperators in the country's 2020-2022 internal conflict in Tigray.

But diplomatic connections have later worsened anew.