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Increasing apprehensions are present regarding the chance of military engagement between Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational rhetoric has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has provoked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

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

Relations between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. Following a prolonged battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, rendering it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a border war broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Recent Statements from Ethiopian Officials

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have directly stated control of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and implied the wish to capture it through military means.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "rectified tomorrow".

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

Eritrean Reaction to the Claims

Amid persistent threats from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to brief comments on online platforms from Information Minister the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for maritime entry labeling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a policy of reclaiming lost territory.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on mid-September that attempts to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Ground

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

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown completion events of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The director of personnel division of the armed forces, General Hachalu, recently said in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Historical Roots of the Tension

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was administered by colonial powers.

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

However in the early 1960s the ruler ended this system and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year armed struggle followed, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then endorsed by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their common border, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

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

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader the president. The two signed a declaration that the conflict was concluded – a action that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous civil war in the northern region.

However diplomatic connections have since broken down once more.