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Growing concerns exist about the possibility of warfare among East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has provoked a fierce war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in last year that his nation's sea access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea ignored.

Relations between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it landlocked.

In 1998, a military clash erupted in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief the army commander have openly claimed control of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and hinted at the desire to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "corrected soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrean Reaction to the Threats

Amid ongoing warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been limited to brief comments on X from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea calling it "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a policy of retaking lost territory.

Government spokespeople alerted on mid-September that efforts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Region

So far, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in the country, state television has shown completion events of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of personnel division of the armed forces, the officer, recently said in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Historical Roots of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was administered by Italian colonisers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the British military before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s the ruler cancelled this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long armed struggle occurred, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then confirmed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their common border, causing conflict in 1998.

Though this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations stayed at odds.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the conflict was over – a decision that earned Abiy the international recognition.

The both administrations were then allies in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 internal conflict in the northern region.

Yet relations have later worsened again.