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Growing worries exist about the possibility of warfare between Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile rhetoric has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has provoked a heated war of words.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in the previous year that his country's access to the sea was an vital issue, statements that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have frequently been strained. Following a long-standing struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it landlocked.

In 1998, a territorial conflict started in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and suggested the desire to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of being denied passage to the sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "rectified in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Threats

In the face of ongoing warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been restricted to brief comments on online platforms from Information Minister the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a approach of reclaiming previous domains.

Government spokespeople warned on 16 September that moves to validate "flagrant aggression" 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 Border

Currently, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, government media has shown graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The head of human resources department of the armed forces, General Hachalu, commented lately in an discussion that the military was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Previous Background of the Dispute

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was administered by Italian rulers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the British military before becoming a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this system and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended internal conflict followed, ending with the government's loss in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by the population in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, causing war in 1998.

Though this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors remained at odds.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders endorsed a announcement that the war was concluded – a decision that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then allies in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in the northern region.

But relations have later worsened anew.