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Growing apprehensions exist over the chance of warfare among East African countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational discourse has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for entry to the sea coast through Eritrea has provoked a heated rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in the previous year that his nation's sea access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Ties between the both governments have often been tense. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a extensive maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a border war broke out in which numerous people died.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and hinted at the intention to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "addressed soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

In the face of persistent threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to brief comments on social media from Information Minister Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for maritime entry describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a policy of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople cautioned on mid-September that attempts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences 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 no reports of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has broadcast graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The director of personnel division of the defense force, the officer, stated recently in an discussion that the military was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Previous Origins of the Dispute

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

After World War II, it was then administered by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of Ethiopia.

But in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this system and Eritrea became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year internal conflict occurred, ending with the government's loss in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their common border, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Though this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors continued at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the war was concluded – a decision that earned the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in the northern region.

However relations have later worsened again.