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Increasing concerns have emerged regarding the potential of armed conflict between Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile discourse has intensified in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has provoked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in the previous year that his government's maritime access was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrea dismissed.

Relations between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. Following a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it landlocked.

In 1998, a territorial conflict erupted in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Current Remarks from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and hinted at the intention to take it by force.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "rectified soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

Despite continuous warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry labeling it "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a approach of reclaiming previous domains.

Eritrean authorities alerted on 16 September that moves to validate "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Region

There have been no reports of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has shown graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The director of personnel division of the defense force, the officer, stated recently in an conversation that the military was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Previous Background of the Dispute

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was administered by colonial powers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the UK forces before becoming a federated part of Ethiopia.

But in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long armed struggle occurred, ending with military reversal in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, causing conflict in 1998.

Although this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors remained at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders agreed to a announcement that the hostilities was concluded – a decision that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then cooperators in the country's previous civil war in the northern region.

Yet relations have later worsened anew.