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Increasing concerns are present about the potential of armed conflict involving East African countries, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as aggressive language has intensified in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a intense verbal exchange.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in last year that his country's sea access was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrea ignored.

Ties between the neighboring nations have often been tense. After a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

In 1998, a military clash erupted in which over a hundred thousand people were killed.

Current Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have openly claimed ownership of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and hinted at the wish to seize it militarily.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing entry to the sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "corrected in the future".

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

Eritrea's Reaction to the Threats

Despite continuous warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been restricted to brief comments on X from Communications Head the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for sea access describing it as "risky" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a policy of reclaiming previous domains.

Government spokespeople alerted on 16 September that efforts to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Border

So far, there are few indications of major military movements in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, state television has shown training completions of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of human resources department of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Past Origins of the Dispute

For decades from the late 19th century, Eritrea was administered by Italian colonisers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British military before evolving into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

But in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this agreement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long armed struggle followed, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Independence was then approved by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

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

Even though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations remained at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two agreed to a declaration that the hostilities was finished – a move that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in the country's 2020-2022 internal conflict in Tigray.

Yet diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated anew.