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Growing concerns are present over the possibility of military engagement involving Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile rhetoric has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a heated war of words.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in last year that his nation's access to the sea was an vital issue, statements that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Ties between the both governments have often been tense. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it landlocked.

Five years later, a border war started in which more than 100,000 people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrean southern port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and implied the wish to take it by force.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "addressed tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrean Response to the Threats

Despite continuous warnings from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to short statements on X from Information Minister Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea describing it as "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a policy of retaking previous domains.

Eritrean authorities alerted on 16 September that attempts to validate "obvious provocation" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Ground

There have been no reports of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in the country, national TV has displayed graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The leader of staff section of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Previous Background of the Dispute

For decades from 1890, the territory was ruled by Italian rulers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the British military before becoming a associated territory of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long civil war occurred, concluding with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then approved by voters in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their common border, causing war in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors remained at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders agreed to a declaration that the hostilities was concluded – a decision that won Abiy the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then allies in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 armed struggle in Tigray.

But diplomatic connections have since broken down again.