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Mounting apprehensions are present regarding the possibility of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile language has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has triggered a intense war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in last year that his government's access to the sea was an existential matter, statements that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. Following a prolonged fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a extensive maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it without sea access.

In 1998, a territorial conflict erupted in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Latest Statements from Ethiopian Officials

Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted control of Eritrean coastal city of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and implied the wish to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "addressed tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrean Reaction to the Claims

Despite ongoing challenges from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been limited to brief comments on social media from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a approach of reclaiming former lands.

Eritrean authorities warned on recently that attempts to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Border

There have been few indications of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the two countries.

However, in Ethiopia, government media has broadcast completion events of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The head of staff section of the defense force, the officer, commented lately in an interview that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Historical Roots of the Dispute

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

Following World War II, it was then administered by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this system and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long armed struggle occurred, finishing with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then endorsed by the population in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, causing war in 1998.

Though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries continued at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two endorsed a announcement that the war was finished – a move that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then cooperators in the country's previous armed struggle in Tigray.

However ties have later worsened once more.