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Growing worries have emerged over the possibility of warfare involving East African countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has sparked a fierce verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in 2023 that his nation's access to the sea was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea dismissed.

Ties between the both governments have often been tense. Following a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in 1993, rendering it without sea access.

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

Latest Remarks from Ethiopian Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and implied the wish to seize it militarily.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "addressed tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrea's Response to the Claims

Amid continuous threats from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been limited to brief comments on social media from Information Minister Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for sea access describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a strategy of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry cautioned on recently that efforts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Ground

So far, there are few indications of major military movements in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown training completions of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The leader of staff section of the military, General Hachalu, stated recently in an interview that the military was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Dispute

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, Eritrea was administered by Italian colonisers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British administration before becoming a federated part of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this agreement and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended armed struggle occurred, finishing with the government's loss in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their common border, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors remained at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders agreed to a declaration that the war was concluded – a decision that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous armed struggle in the northern region.

But diplomatic connections have since broken down again.