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Mounting worries have emerged about the chance of armed conflict between Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for entry to the sea coast through Eritrea has triggered a intense rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in last year that his country's access to the sea was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrea ignored.

Ties between the both governments have often been tense. Following a decades-long struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long sea border, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it without sea access.

Subsequently, a border war started in which numerous people were killed.

Current Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and implied the desire to seize it militarily.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "corrected tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Statements

Amid persistent warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to concise remarks on online platforms from Information Minister the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a approach of reclaiming former lands.

Government spokespeople cautioned on recently that moves to justify "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Activities on the Border

Currently, there are no reports of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the two countries.

However, in the country, state television has displayed training completions of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The director of personnel division of the military, the officer, stated recently in an conversation that the military was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Past Origins of the Conflict

For decades from the late 19th century, Eritrea was administered by Italian rulers.

Following World War II, it was then controlled by the British military before becoming a associated territory of Ethiopia.

However in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this system and Eritrea became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year civil war occurred, concluding with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by voters in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, leading to conflict in 1998.

Though this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations stayed at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the conflict was concluded – a decision that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then allies in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 internal conflict in the northern region.

Yet ties have later worsened again.