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Growing apprehensions are present about the potential of military engagement among Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as aggressive language has intensified in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for access to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has provoked a intense rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in last year that his nation's maritime access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrea rejected.

Ties between the two countries have regularly been difficult. Following a prolonged fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a extensive maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it without sea access.

In 1998, a border war erupted in which numerous people died.

Current Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and implied the intention to take it by force.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "rectified in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrean Response to the Claims

In the face of ongoing warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been confined to short statements on X from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for maritime entry calling it "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of retaking former lands.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on recently that efforts to justify "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Ground

So far, there are little evidence of major military movements in the boundary zones between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in the country, state television has displayed graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The head of human resources department of the armed forces, General Hachalu, commented lately in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Past Roots of the Conflict

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

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the British military before turning into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor ended this system and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

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

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they disagreed over the exact location of their common border, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries stayed at odds.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the conflict was over – a move that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray.

Yet ties have subsequently deteriorated again.