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Growing apprehensions have emerged over the possibility of military engagement between Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for access to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has triggered a fierce rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in 2023 that his country's maritime access was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrea dismissed.

Relations 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, rendering it without sea access.

Five years later, a military clash started in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted control of Eritrea's southern port of the port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and suggested the intention to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing entry to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "rectified soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Claims

In the face of ongoing challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to brief comments on X from Communications Head Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access labeling it "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "expansionism" – a policy of claiming back previous domains.

The information ministry alerted on recently that moves to justify "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Region

Currently, there are 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 various military training camps.

The leader of human resources department of the armed forces, General Hachalu, stated recently in an discussion that the military was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Past Roots of the Dispute

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was governed by colonial powers.

After World War II, it was then managed by the UK forces before evolving into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this system and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year civil war ensued, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then confirmed by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, leading to war in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries stayed at loggerheads.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two endorsed a declaration that the hostilities was finished – a action that gained Abiy the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 armed struggle in the northern region.

Yet ties have since broken down once more.