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Increasing worries exist regarding the chance of warfare involving East African neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational discourse has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has triggered a heated verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in 2023 that his government's maritime access was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have often been tense. Following a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

In 1998, a military clash started in which more than 100,000 people died.

Latest Statements from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader the army commander have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and implied the desire to seize it militarily.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "addressed in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

In the face of persistent threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to brief comments on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for maritime entry describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a approach of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry cautioned on mid-September that efforts to validate "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Ground

There have been few indications of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in the country, state television has broadcast training completions of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The head of staff section of the armed forces, the officer, recently said in an discussion that the army was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Historical Origins of the Dispute

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

After the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British military before becoming a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended civil war occurred, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then approved by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, leading to war in 1998.

Although this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries remained at odds.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the hostilities was finished – a action that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then allies in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 armed struggle in Tigray.

But diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated again.