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Growing apprehensions are present about the possibility of military engagement involving Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has escalated in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for access to the sea coast through Eritrea has triggered a heated verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in the previous year that his nation's maritime access was an existential matter, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the two countries have regularly been difficult. Following a prolonged battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it landlocked.

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

Latest Comments from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and hinted at the intention to seize it militarily.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "rectified in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrean Reaction to the Statements

In the face of continuous warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to brief comments on social media from Information Minister the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea labeling it "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a approach of claiming back former lands.

Government spokespeople warned on recently that moves to justify "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Border

There have been no reports of major military movements in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has shown completion events of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The director of staff section of the defense force, General Hachalu, stated recently in an interview that the army was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Previous Roots of the Tension

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, Eritrea was governed by Italian rulers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the British administration before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this agreement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended civil war occurred, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Independence was then approved by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries continued at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a statement that the conflict was finished – a move that earned Abiy the international recognition.

The two governments were then cooperators in the country's recent internal conflict in Tigray.

However relations have subsequently deteriorated anew.