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Growing concerns exist about the potential of armed conflict involving East African neighbors, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as aggressive rhetoric has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrea has triggered a fierce verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in last year that his government's access to the sea was an vital issue, comments that Eritrea ignored.

Ties between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a prolonged battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, making it landlocked.

Five years later, a military clash started in which more than 100,000 people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and suggested the wish to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, Abiy said the country's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "addressed tomorrow".

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

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

Amid persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to brief comments on X from Communications Head Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea describing it as "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a approach of claiming back lost territory.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on 16 September that moves to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Ground

There have been little evidence of major military movements in the border areas between the neighboring states.

Nevertheless, in the country, government media has shown graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The director of personnel division of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an discussion that the army was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Previous Roots of the Conflict

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was administered by Italian colonisers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the British military before turning into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

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

A thirty-year internal conflict followed, ending with military reversal in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by voters in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their common border, leading to war in 1998.

Though this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the two nations remained at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a announcement that the war was concluded – a decision that gained Abiy the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then allies in the country's previous civil war in Tigray.

However ties have since broken down anew.