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Growing apprehensions are present regarding the chance of warfare among Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for entry to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in last year that his country's access to the sea was an existential matter, comments that Eritrea ignored.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. Following a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a territorial conflict started in which more than 100,000 people died.

Current Statements from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrean coastal city of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and hinted at the intention to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "addressed tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrea's Answer to the Claims

Despite continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been confined to short statements on social media from Communications Head Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry calling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a strategy of reclaiming former lands.

Government spokespeople alerted on mid-September that efforts to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Border

So far, there are no reports of major military movements in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has broadcast training completions of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The leader of personnel division of the defense force, the officer, recently said in an discussion that the army was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Previous Roots of the Conflict

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, Eritrea was administered by colonial powers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the UK forces before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 the ruler ended this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year internal conflict occurred, ending with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, causing war in 1998.

Though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries continued at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the hostilities was over – a action that earned the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then partners in Ethiopia's previous armed struggle in Tigray.

But relations have subsequently deteriorated once more.