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Mounting concerns are present regarding the possibility of armed conflict between East African countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has escalated in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has triggered a fierce rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in the previous year that his government's sea access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrea dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have frequently been strained. Following a prolonged battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a territorial conflict broke out in which numerous people lost their lives.

Current Comments from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted control of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and suggested the intention to capture it through military means.

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

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

Despite persistent warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry describing it as "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a strategy of claiming back previous domains.

Eritrean authorities warned on mid-September that efforts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Border

There have been no reports of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast training completions of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of staff section of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Previous Origins of the Tension

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, the territory was ruled by Italian colonisers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the British administration before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor terminated this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year internal conflict followed, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, leading to conflict in 1998.

Even though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors stayed at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders signed a announcement that the war was concluded – a move that gained the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous civil war in Tigray.

However relations have since broken down anew.