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Growing apprehensions have emerged about the possibility of warfare among Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has escalated in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has sparked a fierce verbal exchange.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in 2023 that his government's maritime access was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Relations between the neighboring nations have often been tense. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it without sea access.

In 1998, a border war erupted in which numerous people were killed.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopian Officials

Abiy and military leader the army commander have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and implied the wish to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "error" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "addressed in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrean Response to the Statements

Despite ongoing warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for sea access calling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a approach of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople alerted on recently that attempts to justify "blatant hostility" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Border

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

Nevertheless, in the country, government media has shown completion events of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The head of staff section of the military, General Hachalu, stated recently in an interview that the army was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Previous Origins of the Tension

For over fifty years from 1890, Eritrea was administered by Italian colonisers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the UK forces before becoming a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 the ruler ended this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year civil war occurred, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Sovereignty was then approved by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, causing conflict in 1998.

Though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors stayed at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a statement that the conflict was finished – a move that won the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then cooperators in the country's recent armed struggle in the northern region.

But diplomatic connections have later worsened anew.