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Mounting concerns exist over the possibility of warfare among Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in the previous year that his nation's access to the sea was an vital issue, comments that Eritrea rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have often been tense. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked.

Five years later, a border war broke out in which more than 100,000 people died.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted control of Eritrea's southern port of the port of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and suggested the wish to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "addressed tomorrow".

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

Eritrean Response to the Statements

Despite continuous threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to short statements on social media from Communications Head the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a policy of retaking previous domains.

The information ministry cautioned on 16 September that efforts to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Ground

There have been no reports of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has shown completion events of many recruits at various military training camps.

The leader of staff section of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Past Roots of the Conflict

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, Eritrea was ruled by colonial powers.

Following World War II, it was then controlled by the UK forces before evolving into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this agreement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended civil war followed, ending with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then endorsed by the population in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the exact location of their shared boundary, leading to war in 1998.

Though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries continued at odds.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President the president. The two endorsed a announcement that the conflict was finished – a decision that won the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in the country's recent civil war in Tigray.

But relations have subsequently deteriorated once more.