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Mounting worries are present about the chance of warfare involving East African neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile language has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for access to the sea coast through Eritrea has sparked a fierce verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in 2023 that his government's maritime access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrea dismissed.

Relations between the both governments have often been tense. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in 1993, making it without sea access.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict started in which over a hundred thousand people were killed.

Current Comments from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated control of Eritrea's southern port 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 "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "corrected tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Claims

In the face of persistent warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to brief comments on X from Communications Head the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for sea access calling it "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a strategy of retaking lost territory.

Government spokespeople alerted on mid-September that efforts to validate "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Ground

So far, there are no reports of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has broadcast completion events of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The head of personnel division of the defense force, the officer, recently said in an interview that the army was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Historical Roots of the Dispute

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was governed by Italian rulers.

After World War II, it was then controlled by the British military before turning into a federated part of Ethiopia.

However in the early 1960s the ruler cancelled this system and Eritrea became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year armed struggle occurred, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then endorsed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries continued at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the war was finished – a move that gained the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then partners in the country's recent internal conflict in the northern region.

But ties have since broken down once more.