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Growing worries have emerged regarding the chance of armed conflict among Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational discourse has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has triggered a intense verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in last year that his nation's sea access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a extensive sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it without sea access.

In 1998, a military clash erupted in which more than 100,000 people died.

Recent Comments from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and suggested the desire to take it by force.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "corrected soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

In the face of continuous threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been restricted to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea describing it as "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a policy of retaking former lands.

The information ministry cautioned on mid-September that efforts to validate "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Region

Currently, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has broadcast training completions of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of staff section of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an discussion that the army was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Previous Origins of the Dispute

For over fifty years from 1890, the territory was administered by Italian colonisers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the British administration before evolving into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

But in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor terminated this system and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year civil war ensued, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then confirmed by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Although this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations continued at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two agreed to a announcement that the conflict was over – a move that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then partners in Ethiopia's previous civil war in Tigray.

However ties have later worsened again.