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Growing concerns are present about the chance of military engagement among East African countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational rhetoric has intensified in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has provoked a fierce war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in the previous year that his country's maritime access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Relations between the two countries have often been tense. Following a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in 1993, rendering it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a border war started in which numerous people died.

Current Remarks from Ethiopian Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrean coastal city of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and suggested the desire to capture it through military means.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of being denied passage to the sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "corrected in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Threats

In the face of persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to brief comments on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for sea access describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a approach of reclaiming previous domains.

Eritrean authorities alerted on 16 September that efforts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Border

So far, there are little evidence of major military movements in the border areas between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in the country, state television has broadcast completion events of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The leader of staff section of the defense force, the officer, commented lately in an conversation that the military was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Historical Origins of the Conflict

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

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

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

A extended civil war occurred, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then confirmed by the population in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the exact location of their mutual frontier, causing hostilities in 1998.

Although this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the two nations remained at loggerheads.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader the president. The both leaders agreed to a statement that the conflict was over – a move that earned the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then partners in the country's recent internal conflict in the northern region.

But relations have later worsened anew.