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Mounting apprehensions have emerged over the potential of armed conflict between Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has provoked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed initially stated publicly in the previous year that his nation's maritime access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrea rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have often been tense. After a long-standing battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

In 1998, a border war broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and hinted at the desire to seize it militarily.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing entry to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "rectified soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Amid persistent warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to brief comments on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for maritime entry labeling it "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a policy of reclaiming former lands.

Government spokespeople warned on 16 September that moves to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Ground

Currently, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, government media has displayed graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The director of human resources department of the armed forces, General Hachalu, stated recently in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Previous Background of the Dispute

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

After World War II, it was then controlled by the UK forces before evolving into a federated part of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s the ruler cancelled this system and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended internal conflict ensued, ending with military reversal in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by voters in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the exact location of their common border, causing war in 1998.

Though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations remained at loggerheads.

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

The two governments were then partners in the country's previous civil war in Tigray.

Yet relations have later worsened anew.