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Growing concerns have emerged regarding the potential of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational language has escalated in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has triggered a intense rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in the previous year that his country's access to the sea was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Relations between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a military clash broke out in which numerous people were killed.

Recent Comments from Ethiopian Officials

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and suggested the wish to seize it militarily.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "mistake" of losing entry to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "rectified soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Despite persistent threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to brief comments on social media from Information Minister Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for sea access labeling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a approach of retaking former lands.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on recently that efforts to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Ground

So far, there are no reports of major military movements in the frontier regions between the two countries.

However, in the country, national TV has displayed completion events of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The director of staff section of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an discussion that the military was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Previous Roots of the Tension

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, Eritrea was governed by Italian rulers.

Following World War II, it was then managed by the UK forces before turning into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this system and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended internal conflict ensued, ending with the government's loss in 1991. Autonomy was then confirmed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, causing hostilities in 1998.

Although this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries stayed at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two signed a statement that the conflict was concluded – a decision that earned the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous civil war in the northern region.

But ties have since broken down again.