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Growing concerns are present about the possibility of warfare between Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile language has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

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

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in last year that his government's access to the sea was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Relations between the both governments have often been tense. Following a long-standing fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive sea border, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a border war erupted in which numerous people were killed.

Latest Comments from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and hinted at the intention to seize it militarily.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "rectified in the future".

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

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Amid continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to brief comments on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for maritime entry describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a strategy of reclaiming former lands.

Eritrean authorities alerted on recently that moves to validate "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Ground

Currently, there are no reports of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in the country, state television has shown training completions of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The leader of human resources department of the defense force, the officer, stated recently in an discussion that the military was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Historical Roots of the Dispute

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was ruled by Italian colonisers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British administration before evolving into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s the ruler terminated this agreement and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A extended civil war occurred, concluding with military reversal in 1991. Independence was then approved by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their common border, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Even though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries continued at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders signed a statement that the conflict was over – a move that won the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then cooperators in the country's 2020-2022 armed struggle in Tigray.

Yet relations have since broken down once more.