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Growing apprehensions have emerged over the possibility of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for access to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has provoked a fierce war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in the previous year that his country's maritime access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have regularly been difficult. Following a long-standing fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it without sea access.

In 1998, a border war erupted in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader the army commander have openly claimed ownership of Eritrean southern port of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and suggested the intention to take it by force.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "rectified in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Claims

Despite ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been restricted to concise remarks on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for maritime entry describing it as "risky" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a policy of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople warned on mid-September that moves to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Ground

Currently, there are no reports of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, government media has displayed graduation ceremonies of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The director of staff section of the military, the officer, stated recently in an discussion that the army was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Tension

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was governed by Italian colonisers.

Following World War II, it was then administered by the British administration before evolving into a federated part of Ethiopia.

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

A extended civil war followed, finishing with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then confirmed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the two nations remained at odds.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two endorsed a declaration that the hostilities was concluded – a move that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then allies in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in Tigray.

But ties have later worsened once more.