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Growing apprehensions are present over the potential of warfare between East African neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile discourse has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the sea coast through Eritrea has sparked a intense war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in 2023 that his country's access to the sea was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea ignored.

Relations between the two countries have often been tense. Following a long-standing battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long sea border, formally separated from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a military clash started in which numerous people lost their lives.

Latest Statements from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and hinted at the desire to seize it militarily.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of losing access to the sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "rectified tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

Amid ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been restricted to brief comments on X from Communications Head the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a policy of claiming back lost territory.

The information ministry alerted on mid-September that efforts to justify "blatant hostility" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Region

So far, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in the country, national TV has shown training completions of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The head of personnel division of the military, the officer, stated recently in an conversation that the army was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Historical Roots of the Dispute

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

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

However in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this system and Eritrea became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long internal conflict occurred, ending with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then approved by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the exact location of their common border, resulting in war in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the two nations continued at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders agreed to a announcement that the conflict was finished – a action that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then allies in the country's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray.

Yet diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated once more.