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Growing concerns are present over the chance of military engagement involving East African neighbors, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational language has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for access to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a heated verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in the previous year that his nation's access to the sea was an existential matter, statements that Eritrea rejected.

Ties between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a territorial conflict broke out in which numerous people lost their lives.

Current Comments from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's southern port of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and suggested the intention to capture it through military means.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "addressed soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrean Answer to the Threats

Despite continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to brief comments on X from Communications Head Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for sea access labeling it "risky" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a policy of retaking former lands.

Eritrean authorities alerted on 16 September that efforts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Border

There have been few indications of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the two countries.

However, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast training completions of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The director of staff section of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Past Background of the Conflict

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, Eritrea was administered by colonial powers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the UK forces before becoming a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 the ruler ended this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year civil war ensued, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, leading to conflict in 1998.

Even though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors continued at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two endorsed a declaration that the conflict was over – a decision that won the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray.

Yet ties have since broken down again.