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Increasing worries have emerged regarding the chance of armed conflict involving East African neighbors, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as aggressive language has intensified in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has sparked a heated war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in the previous year that his country's sea access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Ties between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict started in which more than 100,000 people died.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted control of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and hinted at the wish to seize it militarily.

Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "error" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "rectified soon".

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

Eritrea's Reaction to the Threats

Amid ongoing warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to brief comments on social media from Communications Head the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for sea access labeling it "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a policy of reclaiming former lands.

The information ministry cautioned on recently that attempts to validate "obvious provocation" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Border

There have been no reports of major military movements in the border areas between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown training completions of many recruits at various military training camps.

The director of personnel division of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an discussion that the army was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Previous Background of the Tension

For over fifty years from 1890, Eritrea was governed by Italian rulers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the British administration before evolving into a associated territory of Ethiopia.

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this system and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year civil war followed, concluding with the government's loss in 1991. Sovereignty was then confirmed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, leading to war in 1998.

Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the two nations continued at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader the president. The both leaders signed a statement that the conflict was concluded – a action that earned the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The two governments were then allies in the country's 2020-2022 armed struggle in the northern region.

Yet ties have later worsened once more.