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Increasing worries exist over the possibility of warfare involving Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as aggressive language has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has provoked a heated verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in the previous year that his country's access to the sea was an existential matter, comments that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

Subsequently, a border war erupted in which more than 100,000 people were killed.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and implied the wish to capture it through military means.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing access to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrean Response to the Threats

Despite ongoing threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to short statements on X from Information Minister the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople alerted on mid-September that efforts to justify "blatant hostility" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Activities on the Region

There have been little evidence of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast training completions of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The leader of personnel division of the military, the officer, stated recently in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Conflict

For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was ruled by colonial powers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the UK forces before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 the ruler ended this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year internal conflict occurred, ending with the government's loss in 1991. Independence was then confirmed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Even though this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations remained at loggerheads.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two endorsed a statement that the hostilities was concluded – a decision that earned the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 armed struggle in the northern region.

Yet ties have later worsened once more.