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Increasing apprehensions exist about the potential of armed conflict involving Horn of Africa neighbours, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has intensified in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for entry to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has provoked a fierce war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in last year that his nation's maritime access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Ties between the both governments have frequently been strained. Following a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it landlocked.

In 1998, a border war started in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Current Statements from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrean coastal city of Assab – about 60km from the border - and hinted at the desire to take it by force.

Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "corrected soon".

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

Eritrean Response to the Claims

In the face of ongoing challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to brief comments on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a strategy of retaking lost territory.

Government spokespeople alerted on mid-September that efforts to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Border

So far, there are little evidence of major military movements in the boundary zones between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast training completions of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The leader of human resources department of the military, General Hachalu, recently said in an discussion that the army was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Previous Origins of the Dispute

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, the territory was governed by colonial powers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor ended this system and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year armed struggle ensued, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then endorsed by voters in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their common border, causing war in 1998.

Although this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries stayed at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders signed a statement that the conflict was finished – a decision that earned the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then partners in the country's previous armed struggle in Tigray.

However relations have later worsened once more.