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Increasing worries exist over the potential of warfare involving Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile language has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for passage to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has triggered a intense rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in 2023 that his nation's access to the sea was an existential matter, comments that Eritrea dismissed.

Relations between the two countries have often been tense. After a prolonged battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a extensive sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a border war started in which numerous people died.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and hinted at the desire to take it by force.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of losing access to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "corrected soon".

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

Eritrea's Response to the Claims

In the face of continuous warnings from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been restricted to concise remarks on social media from Information Minister Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for maritime entry describing it as "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back previous domains.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on mid-September that attempts to justify "obvious provocation" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Border

So far, there are no reports of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has broadcast training completions of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The head of staff section of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an conversation that the military was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Tension

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

After World War II, it was then controlled by the British military before evolving into a associated territory of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended civil war followed, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

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

Although this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries remained at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the war was concluded – a move that won Abiy the prestigious award.

The two governments were then partners in the country's previous armed struggle in the northern region.

But ties have since broken down once more.