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Mounting worries are present about the chance of military engagement between Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational rhetoric has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for access to the sea coast through Eritrea has sparked a intense war of words.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in last year that his nation's sea access was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have often been tense. Following a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it without sea access.

Subsequently, a border war started in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Current Statements from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and army chief the army commander have openly claimed ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – about 60km from the border - and suggested the intention to take it by force.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of being denied passage to the sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "rectified soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrea's Response to the Claims

Despite ongoing challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to brief comments on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea describing it as "risky" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a strategy of claiming back former lands.

The information ministry warned on mid-September that attempts to justify "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Border

So far, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in the country, national TV has shown completion events of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The head of personnel division of the armed forces, the officer, commented lately in an interview that the military was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Previous Roots of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was governed by Italian colonisers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the UK forces before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this arrangement and Eritrea became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A extended civil war followed, finishing with the government's loss in 1991. Sovereignty was then confirmed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the exact location of their common border, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Even though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries stayed at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader the president. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the war was finished – a action that earned Abiy the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then partners in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 armed struggle in Tigray.

However diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated anew.