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Increasing concerns are present over the possibility of military engagement involving Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational language has intensified in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has sparked a heated verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in the previous year that his government's access to the sea was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have frequently been strained. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

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

Recent Comments from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and hinted at the wish to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of being denied passage to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "addressed soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrea's Answer to the Claims

Despite continuous warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea describing it as "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a strategy of retaking previous domains.

The information ministry alerted on recently that attempts to validate "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Region

Currently, there are no reports of major military movements in the boundary zones between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in the country, national TV has shown completion events of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The director of personnel division of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an conversation that the military was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Previous Background of the Tension

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, the territory was administered by Italian colonisers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the British administration before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

But in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long internal conflict occurred, ending with the government's loss in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by the population in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, causing war in 1998.

Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations continued at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders agreed to a statement that the hostilities was over – a move that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous armed struggle in Tigray.

Yet ties have since broken down once more.