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Increasing worries are present about the chance of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational language has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for passage to the sea coast through Eritrea has triggered a intense war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in last year that his country's access to the sea was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the two countries have often been tense. Following a long-standing fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, making it landlocked.

Subsequently, a military clash started in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Recent Statements from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and suggested the desire to seize it militarily.

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

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrean Response to the Statements

Amid continuous threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to brief comments on social media from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry describing it as "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople cautioned on 16 September that attempts to validate "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Region

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

However, in Ethiopia, government media has shown training completions of numerous trainees at multiple army bases.

The leader of staff section of the military, General Hachalu, commented lately in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Historical Background of the Conflict

For decades from the late 19th century, Eritrea was governed by Italian rulers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British military before becoming a associated territory of Ethiopia.

However in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long armed struggle occurred, concluding with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then endorsed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the exact location of their common border, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations remained at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a announcement that the war was finished – a action that gained the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then allies in the country's 2020-2022 internal conflict in the northern region.

But relations have subsequently deteriorated once more.