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Growing worries have emerged regarding the chance of military engagement involving East African neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive rhetoric has intensified in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated war of words.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in 2023 that his government's maritime access was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Relations between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

In 1998, a military clash started in which more than 100,000 people were killed.

Latest Statements from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and army chief the army commander have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and suggested the desire to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "addressed in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrea's Response to the Claims

In the face of continuous threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to short statements on online platforms from Information Minister the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry describing it as "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a approach of reclaiming previous domains.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on recently that moves to validate "blatant hostility" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Border

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

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has broadcast graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at multiple army bases.

The leader of staff section of the military, General Hachalu, recently said in an interview that the military was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Historical Background of the Dispute

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

Following Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the British administration before turning into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

But in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this system and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long armed struggle ensued, concluding with military reversal in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Although this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries stayed at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders agreed to a declaration that the hostilities was over – a move that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

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

However relations have later worsened again.