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Mounting worries have emerged over the possibility of warfare among East African neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive discourse has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has sparked a intense verbal exchange.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in the previous year that his government's access to the sea was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Ties between the both governments have often been tense. Following a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a long maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, rendering it landlocked.

Five years later, a territorial conflict broke out in which more than 100,000 people died.

Latest Statements from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and hinted at the wish to take it by force.

Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of being denied passage to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "rectified tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Despite persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for maritime entry labeling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a policy of retaking former lands.

Government spokespeople cautioned on 16 September that efforts to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Ground

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

However, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast completion events of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

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 "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Previous Roots of the Dispute

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

Following World War II, it was then controlled by the British military before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

But in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this agreement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended armed struggle ensued, ending with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then confirmed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Though this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations stayed at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two agreed to a announcement that the conflict was finished – a action that won the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then partners in Ethiopia's previous civil war in Tigray.

However relations have later worsened anew.