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Growing apprehensions have emerged over the potential of military engagement between Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has triggered a fierce rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in the previous year that his government's access to the sea was an vital issue, comments that Eritrea ignored.

Relations between the both governments have frequently been strained. After a prolonged battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a border war broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Recent Comments from Ethiopian Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and hinted at the desire to take it by force.

On 1 September, Abiy said the country's "mistake" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "rectified tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrean Response to the Threats

Amid persistent warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to short statements on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea labeling it "risky" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back former lands.

The information ministry cautioned on mid-September that attempts to validate "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Region

Currently, there are little evidence of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has displayed completion events of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The director of personnel division of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an discussion that the army was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Historical Origins of the Conflict

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was ruled by colonial powers.

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

Yet in the early 1960s the ruler cancelled this system and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year internal conflict ensued, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then endorsed by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their common border, resulting in war in 1998.

Although this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries stayed at odds.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two signed a announcement that the conflict was over – a decision that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The two governments were then partners in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 internal conflict in the northern region.

However relations have later worsened again.