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Increasing concerns have emerged regarding the chance of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile language has escalated in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for passage to the sea coast through Eritrea has triggered a fierce rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in the previous year that his nation's sea access was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Relations between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. Following a prolonged fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it without sea access.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict broke out in which numerous people lost their lives.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted control of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and implied the wish to take it by force.

On 1 September, Abiy said the country's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "corrected tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrean Answer to the Threats

Despite persistent threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to brief comments on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for maritime entry describing it as "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of reclaiming previous domains.

The information ministry warned on mid-September that moves to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Region

So far, there are little evidence of major military movements in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, state television has broadcast graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The director of human resources department of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an interview that the army was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Previous Roots of the Dispute

For decades from 1890, the territory was administered by Italian colonisers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the UK forces before evolving into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

But in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this arrangement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended armed struggle ensued, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then confirmed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, causing conflict in 1998.

Even though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations continued at loggerheads.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two endorsed a declaration that the war was concluded – a move that gained Abiy the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then allies in the country's previous armed struggle in the northern region.

Yet ties have later worsened once more.