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Increasing worries exist over the potential of armed conflict between East African countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational language has escalated in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a fierce rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in the previous year that his nation's access to the sea was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrea rejected.

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) maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a territorial conflict broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Recent Statements from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and hinted at the intention to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, Abiy said the country's "error" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "corrected tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrean Response to the Claims

In the face of persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been restricted to short statements on social media from Communications Head Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for maritime entry describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a policy of claiming back former lands.

Government spokespeople alerted on 16 September that moves to validate "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Border

Currently, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in the country, state television has shown graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The leader of personnel division of the military, General Hachalu, stated recently in an interview that the military was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Conflict

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was governed by Italian colonisers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this system and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year internal conflict followed, concluding with the government's loss in 1991. Autonomy was then confirmed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the exact location of their shared boundary, resulting in war in 1998.

Although this finished in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries remained at odds.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two signed a announcement that the hostilities was finished – a decision that gained the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then partners in the country's 2020-2022 internal conflict in Tigray.

But relations have subsequently deteriorated anew.