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Increasing apprehensions exist about the potential of warfare among Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as confrontational rhetoric has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for access to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has sparked a heated verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in last year that his country's maritime access was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Relations between the both governments have often been tense. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it without sea access.

In 1998, a border war broke out in which numerous people lost their lives.

Latest Statements from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and hinted at the desire to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "rectified tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrea's Answer to the Claims

In the face of persistent warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for sea access labeling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a strategy of claiming back former lands.

The information ministry cautioned on mid-September that efforts to validate "blatant hostility" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Activities on the Region

There have been few indications of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has broadcast completion events of numerous trainees at multiple army bases.

The head of staff section of the armed forces, General Hachalu, commented lately in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Previous Origins of the Conflict

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was administered by colonial powers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the British administration before becoming a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the ruler cancelled this system and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended internal conflict ensued, concluding with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then endorsed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Although this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries stayed at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two signed a declaration that the war was concluded – a action that won the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then cooperators in the country's recent internal conflict in Tigray.

However diplomatic connections have since broken down once more.