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Growing apprehensions are present regarding the potential of warfare involving Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational discourse has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has provoked a intense war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in last year that his country's sea access was an existential matter, statements that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Relations between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. Following a prolonged fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it without sea access.

Five years later, a military clash started in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Current Comments from Ethiopian Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and implied the wish to seize it militarily.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the sea as a because of Eritrea's separation would be "rectified soon".

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

Eritrea's Reaction to the Claims

Amid ongoing warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to brief comments on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for maritime entry describing it as "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "irredentism" – a policy of claiming back former lands.

Government spokespeople warned on recently that efforts to justify "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Border

So far, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has shown graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The director of human resources department of the military, the officer, recently said in an interview that the military was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Previous Roots of the Tension

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, the territory was administered by colonial powers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the British administration before turning into a associated territory of Ethiopia.

Yet in 1962 the ruler cancelled this system and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year armed struggle occurred, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Autonomy was then endorsed by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, causing war in 1998.

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

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two signed a declaration that the war was concluded – a decision that won the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous civil war in Tigray.

However diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated again.