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Mounting worries exist about the chance of armed conflict among East African countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile language has escalated in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the sea coast through Eritrea has triggered a intense verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in 2023 that his government's access to the sea was an existential matter, comments that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Ties between the both governments have regularly been difficult. Following a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a military clash erupted in which numerous people died.

Current Comments from Ethiopian Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrean coastal city of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and hinted at the desire to capture it through military means.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of being denied passage to the sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "addressed soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrean Response to the Threats

Despite persistent threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been limited to brief comments on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea labeling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back previous domains.

The information ministry warned on 16 September that moves to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Region

There have been little evidence of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, government media has displayed graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The head of personnel division of the military, General Hachalu, commented lately in an conversation that the army was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Past Roots of the Dispute

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

After World War II, it was then managed by the UK forces before turning into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

But in the early 1960s the ruler ended this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A extended civil war occurred, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their common border, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries continued at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two endorsed a declaration that the war was finished – a decision that won the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 armed struggle in Tigray.

Yet relations have subsequently deteriorated anew.