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Mounting worries have emerged regarding the potential of armed conflict among Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the Red Sea through Eritrea has triggered a heated war of words.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in the previous year that his government's maritime access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrea dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a border war erupted in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Recent Statements from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and suggested the intention to seize it militarily.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of being denied passage to the sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "rectified soon".

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

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

In the face of continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to short statements on social media from Information Minister the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea calling it "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople warned on mid-September that moves to justify "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Ground

Currently, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has displayed training completions of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The director of human resources department of the armed forces, General Hachalu, stated recently in an discussion that the military was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Roots of the Conflict

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, Eritrea was administered by colonial powers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the UK forces before turning into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s the ruler cancelled this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A extended internal conflict ensued, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then approved by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their shared boundary, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors stayed at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders agreed to a announcement that the conflict was over – a action that earned the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous armed struggle in Tigray.

Yet relations have subsequently deteriorated again.