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Growing apprehensions exist over the potential of warfare involving Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as aggressive language has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has triggered a intense war of words.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in the previous year that his country's sea access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, rendering it landlocked.

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

Recent Statements from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief the army commander have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and hinted at the wish to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "rectified soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

Despite ongoing threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to short statements on social media from Communications Head Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for maritime entry calling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of reclaiming lost territory.

The information ministry cautioned on 16 September that attempts to justify "obvious provocation" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Activities on the Region

There have been no reports of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown training completions of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The director of human resources department of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an interview that the military was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Past Background of the Tension

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

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

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

A extended armed struggle occurred, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Independence was then endorsed by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries stayed at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders agreed to a declaration that the conflict was finished – a decision that gained the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then allies in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray.

Yet relations have later worsened once more.