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Growing worries exist over the potential of armed conflict among East African neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational discourse has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for passage to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has triggered a heated rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in last year that his nation's maritime access was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrea dismissed.

Ties between the two countries have often been tense. After a decades-long struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it without sea access.

Five years later, a territorial conflict broke out in which numerous people were killed.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and implied the intention to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "addressed in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrean Reaction to the Statements

Despite ongoing warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to concise remarks on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea labeling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a policy of reclaiming lost territory.

Government spokespeople alerted on mid-September that attempts to validate "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Ground

So far, there are no reports of major military movements in the boundary zones between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in the country, state television has displayed completion events of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The head of human resources department of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an conversation that the army was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Conflict

For over fifty years from 1890, the territory was administered by colonial powers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the UK forces before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this agreement and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long armed struggle followed, concluding with military reversal in 1991. Sovereignty was then approved by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their common border, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Even though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries remained at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders signed a statement that the war was concluded – a decision that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then allies in the country's recent internal conflict in Tigray.

However relations have later worsened anew.