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Growing concerns have emerged over the chance of warfare involving East African countries, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as hostile rhetoric has escalated in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has sparked a heated verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed initially stated publicly in 2023 that his nation's access to the sea was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the two countries have often been tense. Following a decades-long battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, rendering it without sea access.

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

Recent Remarks from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrean southern port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and hinted at the desire to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "rectified tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Claims

Amid continuous warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to brief comments on social media from Information Minister the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for sea access labeling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a policy of reclaiming former lands.

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

Military Activities on the Region

So far, there are little evidence of major military movements in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has broadcast graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The leader of staff section of the defense force, the officer, recently said in an conversation that the army was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Previous Roots of the Dispute

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, Eritrea was ruled by colonial powers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the British administration before becoming a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this agreement and Eritrea became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year armed struggle followed, ending with military reversal in 1991. Independence was then endorsed by voters in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, causing war in 1998.

Although this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations remained at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the war was concluded – a decision that won Abiy the international recognition.

The two governments were then partners in Ethiopia's recent civil war in Tigray.

Yet relations have later worsened anew.