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Increasing worries have emerged about the possibility of warfare between East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has triggered a intense verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in 2023 that his government's maritime access was an existential matter, statements that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it landlocked.

In 1998, a border war broke out in which more than 100,000 people died.

Recent Comments from Ethiopia's Leadership

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and suggested the desire to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "rectified tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrean Answer to the Statements

Despite continuous challenges from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry calling it "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of claiming back lost territory.

Government spokespeople cautioned on recently that attempts to validate "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "boundary 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 neighboring states.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast graduation ceremonies of many recruits at various military training camps.

The leader of staff section of the armed forces, the officer, stated recently in an interview that the army was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Past Roots of the Tension

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was ruled by Italian rulers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the British military before turning into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the ruler ended this arrangement and Eritrea became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long internal conflict ensued, ending with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then endorsed by voters in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the exact location of their shared boundary, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Although this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries stayed at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two signed a announcement that the hostilities was concluded – a action that earned the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

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

Yet relations have later worsened anew.