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Growing apprehensions are present about the potential of armed conflict involving East African neighbors, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in last year that his government's access to the sea was an existential matter, comments that Eritrea rejected.

Relations between the two countries have frequently been strained. Following a prolonged battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a military clash broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Recent Statements from Ethiopia's Leadership

Abiy and army chief the army commander have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and implied the intention to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "addressed soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrean Response to the Threats

Amid ongoing challenges from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been limited to short statements on social media from Communications Head the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea labeling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a policy of reclaiming former lands.

Government spokespeople alerted on recently that moves to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Border

Currently, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in the country, state television has displayed training completions of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The head of staff section of the military, the officer, recently said in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Previous Origins of the Dispute

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was ruled by Italian colonisers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year armed struggle occurred, ending with the government's loss in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they disagreed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, leading to war in 1998.

Although this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the two nations stayed at odds.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders agreed to a statement that the war was finished – a decision that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The both administrations were then cooperators in the country's recent internal conflict in the northern region.

However ties have later worsened once more.