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Increasing concerns exist regarding the potential of warfare between East African neighbors, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational language has escalated in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has triggered a intense war of words.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in the previous year that his country's sea access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a decades-long struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a long maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it without sea access.

In 1998, a border war broke out in which numerous people were killed.

Current Statements from Ethiopian Officials

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean southern port of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and suggested the intention to take it by force.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "addressed soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Statements

Amid continuous threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to brief comments on X from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for maritime entry labeling it "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a policy of claiming back lost territory.

Eritrean authorities warned on mid-September that efforts to validate "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Border

There have been no reports of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in the country, national TV has broadcast training completions of many recruits at various military training camps.

The leader of personnel division of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an interview that the army was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Past Background of the Conflict

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

After World War II, it was then managed by the British military before evolving into a federated part of Ethiopia.

But in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor terminated this system and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year civil war followed, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Independence was then endorsed by the population in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, leading to war in 1998.

Although this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries continued at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two agreed to a statement that the hostilities was over – a move that won the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then allies in the country's recent armed struggle in the northern region.

However diplomatic connections have since broken down once more.