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Growing worries have emerged over the potential of armed conflict involving Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as aggressive rhetoric has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has provoked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in the previous year that his government's maritime access was an existential matter, statements that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have frequently been strained. Following a decades-long struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a extensive sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a territorial conflict broke out in which numerous people were killed.

Recent Comments from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and hinted at the intention to seize it militarily.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing entry to the sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "addressed soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrean Response to the Threats

Despite persistent warnings from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to short statements on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for maritime entry describing it as "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back former lands.

Eritrean authorities warned on mid-September that moves to validate "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Border

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

Nonetheless, in the country, state television has broadcast completion events of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The leader of staff section of the armed forces, the officer, commented lately in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Historical Roots of the Dispute

For decades from the late 19th century, Eritrea was governed by colonial powers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the British administration before becoming a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this agreement and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year armed struggle followed, concluding with the government's loss in 1991. Sovereignty was then confirmed by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their common border, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Although this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors stayed at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders signed a declaration that the hostilities was concluded – a move that won the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then partners in the country's 2020-2022 civil war in the northern region.

However ties have subsequently deteriorated once more.