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Growing apprehensions are present about the possibility of warfare involving Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive language has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

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

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in last year that his government's sea access was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrea dismissed.

Relations between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in 1993, rendering it landlocked.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict erupted in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Latest Statements from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and suggested the desire to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "mistake" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "rectified soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

Despite persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to brief comments on social media from Communications Head Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for sea access labeling it "risky" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back lost territory.

Eritrean authorities alerted on mid-September that efforts to validate "blatant hostility" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Region

So far, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has shown training completions of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The head of human resources department of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an interview that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Historical Roots of the Tension

For over fifty years from 1890, the territory was ruled by Italian rulers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the British military before becoming a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

But in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor ended this arrangement and Eritrea became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year armed struggle occurred, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then confirmed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the two nations stayed at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders signed a statement that the conflict was finished – a decision that earned Abiy the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then allies in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in Tigray.

However diplomatic connections have since broken down anew.