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Mounting worries are present regarding the possibility of warfare among East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as hostile language has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a heated rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in 2023 that his government's maritime access was an existential matter, comments that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have frequently been strained. Following a decades-long struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, making it landlocked.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict started in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrean southern port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and hinted at the desire to capture it through military means.

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

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrean Reaction to the Threats

In the face of persistent warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea labeling it "risky" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a policy of claiming back previous domains.

The information ministry alerted on 16 September that moves to validate "obvious provocation" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Ground

So far, there are little evidence of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, government media has shown completion events of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The director of personnel division of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an conversation that the army was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Previous Background of the Tension

For decades from 1890, the territory was ruled by Italian rulers.

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

Yet in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long armed struggle occurred, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the exact location of their common border, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Even though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries remained at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders agreed to a announcement that the war was over – a decision that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous civil war in Tigray.

However ties have since broken down anew.