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Mounting concerns exist regarding the chance of warfare between Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive discourse has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrea has provoked a intense rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in last year that his government's sea access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. Following a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

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

Current Statements from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and suggested the desire to take it by force.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "corrected tomorrow".

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

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

In the face of persistent threats from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to short statements on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea calling it "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a strategy of claiming back lost territory.

The information ministry cautioned on mid-September that moves to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Border

Currently, there are no reports of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the both nations.

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

The head of personnel division of the armed forces, General Hachalu, commented lately in an conversation that the army was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Previous Roots of the Dispute

For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was governed by Italian rulers.

After World War II, it was then managed by the British military before becoming a federated part of Ethiopia.

But in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this system and Eritrea became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year civil war followed, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Independence was then confirmed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the exact location of their common border, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries stayed at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two signed a declaration that the conflict was over – a decision that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous internal conflict in the northern region.

However diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated anew.