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Increasing worries exist regarding the possibility of military engagement between East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has sparked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in 2023 that his nation's sea access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrea ignored.

Relations between the neighboring nations have often been tense. After a prolonged battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a extensive maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a territorial conflict erupted in which numerous people died.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and suggested the desire to seize it militarily.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "addressed tomorrow".

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

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

Amid persistent threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to short statements on X from Information Minister Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea describing it as "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a strategy of claiming back former lands.

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

Security Activities on the Region

So far, there are little evidence of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has shown graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The leader of staff section of the defense force, the officer, recently said in an discussion that the military was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Past Roots of the Conflict

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, the territory was governed by Italian rulers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the UK forces before evolving into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor ended this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A extended civil war ensued, ending with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then confirmed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, causing conflict in 1998.

Even though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries remained at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two endorsed a declaration that the hostilities was concluded – a decision that earned Abiy the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then partners in Ethiopia's previous civil war in Tigray.

But relations have subsequently deteriorated once more.