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Growing worries have emerged over the chance of warfare involving East African neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the sea coast through Eritrea has sparked a fierce war of words.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in 2023 that his nation's sea access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Relations between the both governments have regularly been difficult. Following a prolonged battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, making it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a border war broke out in which numerous people lost their lives.

Recent Statements from Ethiopian Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and implied the wish to take it by force.

In early September, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of losing access to the sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Despite continuous threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been restricted to short statements on social media from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry describing it as "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a strategy of retaking former lands.

Government spokespeople cautioned on mid-September that attempts to justify "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Activities on the Border

Currently, there are few indications of major military movements in the border areas between the two countries.

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

The director of personnel division of the defense force, General Hachalu, stated recently in an interview that the army was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Past Origins of the Tension

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

After Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the British administration before evolving into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year internal conflict followed, ending with the government's loss in 1991. Independence was then confirmed by voters in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the exact location of their common border, leading to war in 1998.

Although this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries stayed at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders agreed to a declaration that the war was over – a action that gained the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then allies in the country's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray.

However diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated again.