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Growing worries have emerged over the potential of military engagement involving Horn of Africa neighbours, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as aggressive discourse has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has sparked a intense verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in last year that his government's sea access was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Ties between the two countries have often been tense. Following a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a border war broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Current Statements from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and military leader the army commander have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and suggested the desire to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "error" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrean Reaction to the Statements

In the face of ongoing challenges from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been limited to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for maritime entry calling it "hazardous" 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 major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Border

So far, there are few indications of major military movements in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

However, in Ethiopia, national TV has broadcast completion events of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The director of personnel division of the armed forces, the officer, commented lately in an interview that the army was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Background of the Tension

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, Eritrea was ruled by Italian colonisers.

After World War II, it was then managed by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the ruler terminated this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long civil war followed, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then approved by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their common border, resulting in war in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries remained at odds.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the war was concluded – a action that won the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then partners in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 civil war in the northern region.

Yet ties have subsequently deteriorated anew.