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Growing concerns have emerged regarding the potential of armed conflict among East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

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

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in the previous year that his government's sea access was an existential matter, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, making it landlocked.

Five years later, a military clash erupted in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Current Comments from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and suggested the wish to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea's separation would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Threats

In the face of continuous warnings from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been restricted to brief comments on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry calling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a approach of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry alerted on recently that attempts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Border

So far, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in the country, national TV has shown graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The head of human resources department of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an discussion that the military was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Historical Origins of the Conflict

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was ruled by Italian rulers.

After World War II, it was then controlled by the British administration before becoming a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this agreement and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long internal conflict ensued, concluding with the government's loss in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by voters in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors remained at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President the president. The two signed a statement that the conflict was finished – a decision that earned the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then allies in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 armed struggle in the northern region.

However diplomatic connections have since broken down once more.