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Mounting apprehensions are present regarding the possibility of armed conflict among Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile language has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for passage to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has sparked a intense verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in last year that his government's maritime access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Ties between the both governments have frequently been strained. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a extensive maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopia in 1993, rendering it landlocked.

Five years later, a border war erupted in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Current Remarks from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated control of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and suggested the intention to seize it militarily.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "addressed in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrean Answer to the Threats

Amid ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to concise remarks on social media from Information Minister the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for sea access describing it as "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a approach of retaking previous domains.

The information ministry alerted on mid-September that moves to validate "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Region

There have been few indications of major military movements in the boundary zones between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, state television has shown training completions of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of personnel division of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Previous Origins of the Dispute

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, the territory was administered by Italian rulers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the British administration before evolving into a federated part of Ethiopia.

However in 1962 the ruler cancelled this agreement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long civil war followed, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Independence was then endorsed by voters in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the exact location of their shared boundary, causing hostilities in 1998.

Even though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries continued at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the war was finished – a action that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

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

Yet ties have later worsened once more.