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Mounting apprehensions exist about the chance of military engagement involving East African neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a intense war of words.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in last year that his nation's sea access was an existential matter, comments that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked.

Five years later, a border war broke out in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted control of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and hinted at the intention to take it by force.

Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "rectified in the future".

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

Eritrean Response to the Statements

Amid ongoing threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to brief comments on online platforms from Communications Head the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea describing it as "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a policy of retaking former lands.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on mid-September that efforts to validate "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Region

There have been few indications of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the two countries.

However, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast completion events of many recruits at various military training camps.

The director of human resources department of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an discussion that the army was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Historical Roots of the Tension

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, Eritrea was administered by Italian rulers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the British military before turning into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this agreement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended armed struggle occurred, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then confirmed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, causing hostilities in 1998.

Though this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations continued at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two signed a declaration that the hostilities was concluded – a move that gained the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then allies in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 armed struggle in the northern region.

However ties have since broken down once more.