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Increasing apprehensions have emerged about the potential of warfare involving East African countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as aggressive rhetoric has escalated in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for entry to the sea coast through Eritrea has triggered a fierce war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in 2023 that his country's sea access was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have often been tense. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a military clash broke out in which numerous people were killed.

Recent Comments from Ethiopian Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated control of Eritrean coastal city of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and implied the desire to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "rectified in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrean Answer to the Statements

In the face of continuous warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been restricted to brief comments on online platforms from Communications Head the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for maritime entry calling it "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "expansionism" – a strategy of reclaiming previous domains.

The information ministry warned on 16 September that attempts to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary 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 both nations.

However, in the country, government media has displayed training completions of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The head of human resources department of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an discussion that the military was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Roots of the Dispute

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

After World War II, it was then managed by the British military before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

But in 1962 the ruler terminated this system and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long civil war occurred, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by voters in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, causing war in 1998.

Although this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors remained at odds.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a statement that the hostilities was over – a move that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The two governments were then partners in the country's previous civil war in Tigray.

Yet relations have later worsened once more.