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Increasing concerns are present over the chance of military engagement involving East African countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as aggressive discourse has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has sparked a intense war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in 2023 that his government's access to the sea was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the two countries have regularly been difficult. Following a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a border war broke out in which more than 100,000 people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and implied the intention to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "addressed in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrean Answer to the Statements

Despite continuous warnings from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been confined to brief comments on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea calling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a policy of retaking previous domains.

The information ministry alerted on 16 September that attempts 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".

Defense Preparations on the Region

There have been little evidence of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in the country, national TV has shown training completions of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The leader of human resources department of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an interview that the army was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Historical Background of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was ruled by colonial powers.

Following World War II, it was then managed by the UK forces before evolving into a federated part of Ethiopia.

Yet in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long civil war followed, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then endorsed by voters in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, causing hostilities in 1998.

Though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries stayed at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two endorsed a statement that the conflict was finished – a decision that won the Prime Minister the international recognition.

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

However relations have since broken down anew.