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Mounting worries are present about the possibility of warfare between Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational discourse has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in the previous year that his government's sea access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Ties between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

Subsequently, a military clash broke out in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopian Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and implied the desire to take it by force.

In early September, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

In the face of ongoing challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to brief comments on social media from Information Minister the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access describing it as "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a strategy of retaking former lands.

Eritrean authorities warned on recently that efforts to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Border

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

Nonetheless, in the country, national TV has shown completion events of numerous trainees at multiple army bases.

The head of personnel division of the defense force, the officer, commented lately in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

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 UK forces before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

Yet in 1962 the ruler cancelled this system and Eritrea became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long armed struggle occurred, ending with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then confirmed by the population in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the exact location of their shared boundary, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Even though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries remained at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President the president. The two endorsed a statement that the hostilities was concluded – a decision that won the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The both administrations were then allies in Ethiopia's previous civil war in Tigray.

However ties have later worsened again.