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Growing concerns are present regarding the possibility of military engagement involving East African countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational discourse has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has sparked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed initially stated publicly in last year that his government's access to the sea was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have often been tense. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a extensive maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in 1993, making it landlocked.

Subsequently, a border war started in which numerous people died.

Current Remarks from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and hinted at the wish to capture it through military means.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing access to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "addressed soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

Amid persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been restricted to concise remarks on X from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a approach of claiming back lost territory.

The information ministry warned on recently that attempts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Region

So far, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast completion events of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The leader of personnel division of the defense force, the officer, commented lately in an conversation that the military was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was ruled by Italian colonisers.

After World War II, it was then managed by the British military before becoming a associated territory of Ethiopia.

But in 1962 the ruler cancelled this system and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long civil war ensued, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by the population in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, leading to war in 1998.

Although this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries remained at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders agreed to a statement that the war was over – a decision that earned the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The both administrations were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray.

Yet relations have since broken down anew.