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Growing worries have emerged about the chance of military engagement among Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational discourse has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has provoked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in last year that his government's sea access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the neighboring nations have often been tense. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it without sea access.

In 1998, a border war broke out in which numerous people lost their lives.

Current Statements from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief the army commander have openly claimed control of Eritrea's southern port of the port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and suggested the intention to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, Abiy said the country's "error" of losing entry to the sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "rectified soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrea's Answer to the Claims

Amid ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to concise remarks on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for sea access describing it as "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a strategy of retaking lost territory.

Government spokespeople cautioned on recently that attempts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Ground

Currently, there are little evidence of major military movements in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, national TV has broadcast graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The leader of personnel division of the armed forces, the officer, commented lately in an conversation that the army was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Past Origins of the Tension

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was ruled by colonial powers.

Following World War II, it was then managed by the UK forces before becoming a integrated region of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this arrangement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long civil war occurred, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then confirmed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, leading to war in 1998.

Though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations continued at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two signed a announcement that the war was finished – a action that won Abiy the prestigious award.

The two governments were then cooperators in the country's previous internal conflict in Tigray.

However ties have since broken down again.