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Growing worries exist about the potential of warfare among Horn of Africa neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as aggressive rhetoric has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a heated war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in 2023 that his government's sea access was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, rendering it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a military clash started in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Latest Comments from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrean coastal city of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and suggested the wish to take it by force.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "addressed in the future".

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

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

Despite persistent threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to short statements on X from Information Minister Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "irredentism" – a policy of reclaiming former lands.

The information ministry warned on 16 September that moves to justify "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Border

So far, there are no reports of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown training completions of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The director of personnel division of the military, the officer, commented lately in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Historical Origins of the Tension

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was governed by Italian rulers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the UK forces before becoming a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

But in 1962 the ruler terminated this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A extended armed struggle followed, ending with the government's loss in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, causing hostilities in 1998.

Although this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the two nations stayed at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a statement that the conflict was concluded – a move that gained Abiy the international recognition.

The two governments were then cooperators in the country's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray.

But relations have later worsened once more.