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Growing apprehensions exist regarding the potential of warfare between East African neighbors, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has intensified in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has provoked a fierce verbal exchange.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in last year that his country's access to the sea was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Relations between the both governments have often been tense. Following a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a long maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it landlocked.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict started in which more than 100,000 people died.

Current Statements from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean southern port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and hinted at the desire to take it by force.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of being denied passage to the sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "rectified soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrean Answer to the Threats

Amid ongoing warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to short statements on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for maritime entry calling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a approach of reclaiming lost territory.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on mid-September that attempts to justify "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Ground

Currently, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has displayed training completions of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The head of human resources department of the military, General Hachalu, commented lately in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Previous Roots of the Conflict

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was ruled by Italian colonisers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the UK forces before evolving into a federated part of Ethiopia.

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

A three-decade long armed struggle ensued, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then endorsed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors stayed at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two signed a declaration that the conflict was finished – a decision that earned the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The both administrations were then partners in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 civil war in the northern region.

But relations have since broken down anew.