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Growing concerns have emerged regarding the possibility of armed conflict involving East African countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for access to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a fierce verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in the previous year that his government's sea access was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Relations between the two countries have often been tense. Following a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a extensive sea border, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in 1993, making it landlocked.

In 1998, a territorial conflict erupted in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Latest Comments from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted control of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and hinted at the desire to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "rectified in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrean Reaction to the Claims

Amid continuous warnings from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for sea access calling it "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a policy of reclaiming lost territory.

Government spokespeople warned on mid-September that moves to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Border

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

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, government media has shown graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at multiple army bases.

The leader of staff section of the armed forces, the officer, stated recently in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Historical Origins of the Dispute

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

Following World War II, it was then controlled by the UK forces before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 the ruler cancelled this system and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long internal conflict followed, ending with military reversal in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, leading to conflict in 1998.

Even though this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors continued at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders agreed to a statement that the war was over – a decision that won Abiy the international recognition.

The two governments were then allies in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in Tigray.

However ties have later worsened again.