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Increasing worries have emerged about the chance of armed conflict involving East African neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive discourse has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in last year that his government's sea access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the both governments have frequently been strained. Following a long-standing struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a long maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

Five years later, a territorial conflict broke out in which numerous people were killed.

Latest Comments from Ethiopian Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated control of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and hinted at the intention to take it by force.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "mistake" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "corrected tomorrow".

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

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Amid continuous challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to concise remarks on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for maritime entry calling it "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of reclaiming former lands.

Eritrean authorities warned on 16 September that moves to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Region

So far, there are few indications of major military movements in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, national TV has shown completion events of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The leader of human resources department of the defense force, the officer, stated recently in an interview that the army was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Past Roots of the Tension

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, the territory was administered by Italian rulers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the British administration before turning into a federated part of Ethiopia.

But in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this agreement and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A extended civil war occurred, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, leading to war in 1998.

Though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries remained at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders agreed to a declaration that the war was over – a decision that earned the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then partners in Ethiopia's recent armed struggle in Tigray.

Yet diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated anew.