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Growing apprehensions have emerged regarding the potential of military engagement between East African neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational rhetoric has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has triggered a heated verbal exchange.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in the previous year that his nation's access to the sea was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Ties between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a long maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it landlocked.

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

Latest Comments from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and hinted at the intention to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "error" of losing entry to the sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "rectified in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrean Response to the Statements

Despite ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to concise remarks on social media from Information Minister the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for maritime entry calling it "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a approach of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople warned on 16 September that moves to validate "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Region

Currently, there are little evidence of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, government media has displayed training completions of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The head of human resources department of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an conversation that the army was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Historical Origins of the Tension

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, the territory was ruled by colonial powers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the British military before becoming a associated territory of Ethiopia.

However in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year civil war followed, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then endorsed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, causing war in 1998.

Though this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations stayed at odds.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two endorsed a declaration that the hostilities was over – a action that won the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then partners in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in the northern region.

But relations have later worsened once more.