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Increasing concerns are present over the possibility of armed conflict between Horn of Africa neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile language has escalated in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for passage to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has provoked a fierce war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in last year that his nation's access to the sea was an existential matter, statements that Eritrea dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have often been tense. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a border war started in which numerous people lost their lives.

Recent Statements from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and suggested the desire to seize it militarily.

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

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrean Answer to the Statements

Despite ongoing warnings from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been restricted to brief comments on social media from Communications Head Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for sea access labeling it "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a policy of reclaiming former lands.

Government spokespeople alerted on recently that attempts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Border

Currently, there are no reports of major military movements in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, government media has displayed training completions of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The head of human resources department of the defense force, General Hachalu, recently said in an interview that the army was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Past Origins of the Tension

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

After the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British military before evolving into a federated part of Ethiopia.

But in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this agreement and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year armed struggle ensued, concluding with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then approved by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their common border, causing conflict in 1998.

Although this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors continued at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders agreed to a statement that the conflict was finished – a action that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then allies in the country's previous internal conflict in the northern region.

However diplomatic connections have since broken down anew.