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Growing worries have emerged about the potential of armed conflict between East African neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational rhetoric has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has triggered a intense war of words.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in the previous year that his nation's sea access was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the both governments have frequently been strained. Following a decades-long struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked.

In 1998, a military clash started in which more than 100,000 people were killed.

Recent Statements from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and hinted at the wish to seize it militarily.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "error" of losing access to the sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "rectified soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrean Answer to the Threats

In the face of persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been limited to concise remarks on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for maritime entry describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a policy of claiming back previous domains.

The information ministry alerted on recently that efforts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Border

So far, there are little evidence of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the both nations.

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

The head of staff section of the military, General Hachalu, stated recently in an discussion that the military was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Historical Background of the Dispute

For over fifty years from 1890, Eritrea was ruled by Italian colonisers.

Following World War II, it was then controlled by the British military before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this agreement and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A extended internal conflict occurred, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then approved by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they clashed over the exact location of their shared boundary, causing hostilities in 1998.

Though this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors remained at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders agreed to a declaration that the hostilities was finished – a move that earned Abiy the international recognition.

The both administrations were then partners in Ethiopia's previous armed struggle in the northern region.

But ties have later worsened once more.