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Growing worries have emerged over the possibility of military engagement among Horn of Africa neighbors, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as confrontational discourse has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has provoked a fierce war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in the previous year that his country's maritime access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have often been tense. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, making it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a military clash broke out in which more than 100,000 people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopian Officials

Abiy and military leader the army commander have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's southern port of the port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and implied the wish to seize it militarily.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Claims

In the face of persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to brief comments on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access calling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a policy of retaking former lands.

The information ministry warned on recently that efforts to validate "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Border

Currently, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has shown completion events of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The director of personnel division of the military, General Hachalu, recently said in an conversation that the military was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Historical Background of the Dispute

For decades from the late 19th century, Eritrea was ruled by colonial powers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the British military before turning into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this system and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A extended civil war occurred, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then endorsed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they disagreed over the exact location of their shared boundary, leading to war in 1998.

Though this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations remained at odds.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two signed a statement that the hostilities was over – a move that gained Abiy the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in Tigray.

However diplomatic connections have since broken down again.