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Increasing worries exist over the possibility of armed conflict involving Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational rhetoric has intensified in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for passage to the sea coast through Eritrea has sparked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in 2023 that his nation's sea access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a extensive sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a military clash broke out in which numerous people died.

Latest Statements from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and suggested the desire to take it by force.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "corrected in the future".

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

Eritrea's Reaction to the Statements

Despite ongoing warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access calling it "risky" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a approach of retaking previous domains.

The information ministry cautioned on recently that efforts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Border

Currently, there are no reports of major military movements in the border areas between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has shown training completions of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The leader of personnel division of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an conversation that the military was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Previous Roots of the Conflict

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, the territory was administered by Italian rulers.

After World War II, it was then managed by the UK forces before becoming a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor terminated this system and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year internal conflict ensued, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Autonomy was then confirmed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the exact location of their shared boundary, resulting in war in 1998.

Even though this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations continued at loggerheads.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders agreed to a declaration that the hostilities was finished – a decision that earned Abiy the international recognition.

The both administrations were then cooperators in the country's 2020-2022 civil war in the northern region.

But diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated again.