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Mounting concerns have emerged about the potential of warfare among Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile discourse has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has provoked a heated war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in the previous year that his government's sea access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea rejected.

Relations between the neighboring nations have often been tense. Following a long-standing battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, rendering it without sea access.

In 1998, a territorial conflict erupted in which numerous people were killed.

Recent Comments from Ethiopian Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and hinted at the wish to seize it militarily.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "error" of losing access to the sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "rectified in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrea's Response to the Threats

Despite persistent warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been limited to brief comments on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "irredentism" – a approach of claiming back lost territory.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on 16 September that attempts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Region

There have been little evidence of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the both nations.

However, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown completion events of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The director of personnel division of the armed forces, the officer, recently said in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Previous Background of the Tension

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, Eritrea was administered by Italian colonisers.

Following World War II, it was then managed by the UK forces before turning into a associated territory of Ethiopia.

Yet in 1962 the ruler ended this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long civil war occurred, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Independence was then approved by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

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

Though this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries remained at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a statement that the conflict was finished – a move that gained the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then partners in Ethiopia's previous armed struggle in Tigray.

But relations have since broken down anew.