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Growing concerns are present about the chance of military engagement between Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational discourse has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has triggered a fierce verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in the previous year that his nation's access to the sea was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrea ignored.

Relations between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a territorial conflict erupted in which numerous people lost their lives.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader the army commander have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and suggested the desire to capture it through military means.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrean Reaction to the Statements

Amid continuous threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been restricted to brief comments on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry describing it as "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a approach of retaking previous domains.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on recently that attempts to validate "obvious provocation" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Ground

Currently, there are no reports of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has displayed training completions of numerous trainees at multiple army bases.

The director of staff section of the armed forces, the officer, commented lately in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Historical Roots of the Dispute

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

After World War II, it was then administered by the British military before turning into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

But in 1962 the ruler cancelled this system and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year armed struggle followed, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Sovereignty was then approved by voters in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Though this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries continued at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders endorsed a announcement that the conflict was finished – a action that won Abiy the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then partners in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray.

But ties have later worsened anew.