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Growing apprehensions exist about the chance of warfare between Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for passage to the sea coast through Eritrea has sparked a heated verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in last year that his government's sea access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea rejected.

Relations between the both governments have frequently been strained. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked.

In 1998, a military clash broke out in which numerous people were killed.

Current Comments from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and implied the desire to capture it through military means.

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

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrea's Response to the Threats

In the face of continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to brief comments on social media from Information Minister Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access calling it "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a approach of reclaiming previous domains.

Eritrean authorities warned on mid-September that efforts to validate "blatant hostility" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Ground

Currently, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, government media has shown completion events of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The leader of staff section of the military, General Hachalu, commented lately in an conversation that the army was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Past Origins of the Conflict

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was governed by Italian colonisers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the British military before becoming a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in 1962 the ruler terminated this arrangement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long internal conflict followed, concluding with the government's loss in 1991. Independence was then approved by voters in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the exact location of their mutual frontier, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Although this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries continued at odds.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders agreed to a announcement that the war was over – a action that earned Abiy the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then cooperators in the country's recent armed struggle in the northern region.

Yet ties have since broken down once more.