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Growing worries have emerged over the potential of military engagement involving East African neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive language has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has sparked a fierce war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in last year that his government's access to the sea was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrea ignored.

Ties between the two countries have regularly been difficult. Following a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, making it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a military clash broke out in which more than 100,000 people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and implied the desire to seize it militarily.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "error" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrean Reaction to the Threats

Amid continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea calling it "risky" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a policy of reclaiming previous domains.

The information ministry warned on 16 September that efforts to justify "blatant hostility" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Ground

Currently, there are no reports of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the two countries.

However, in the country, government media has displayed completion events of many recruits at various military training camps.

The director of staff section of the armed forces, General Hachalu, recently said in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Previous Background of the Tension

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

Following World War II, it was then administered by the British administration before evolving into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this agreement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long armed struggle ensued, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Independence was then confirmed by the population in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their common border, resulting in war in 1998.

Even though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations stayed at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two signed a announcement that the conflict was concluded – a move that won Abiy the prestigious award.

The two governments were then cooperators in the country's previous civil war in the northern region.

But ties have since broken down once more.