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Increasing worries have emerged about the possibility of warfare between Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive rhetoric has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a intense rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in the previous year that his nation's sea access was an existential matter, comments that Eritrea rejected.

Relations between the both governments have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a long sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in 1993, making it without sea access.

Subsequently, a military clash broke out in which more than 100,000 people were killed.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and implied the wish to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "error" of losing entry to the sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "addressed tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrean Reaction to the Statements

Despite continuous threats from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to brief comments on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for sea access calling it "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a approach of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry alerted on recently that moves to justify "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Region

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

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has displayed completion events of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The director of human resources department of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Historical Origins of the Tension

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

Following Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the British administration before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this system and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended internal conflict followed, ending with the government's loss in 1991. Sovereignty was then approved by voters in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors continued at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two endorsed a statement that the conflict was finished – a decision that gained the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then cooperators in the country's recent internal conflict in Tigray.

Yet ties have since broken down anew.