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Increasing worries have emerged over the potential of military engagement involving Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

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

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in last year that his government's sea access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the two countries have frequently been strained. Following a long-standing fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it without sea access.

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

Current Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and military leader the army commander have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and hinted at the desire to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "error" of losing entry to the sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "corrected tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

Despite continuous challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on X from Information Minister Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of retaking lost territory.

Government spokespeople cautioned on 16 September that efforts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Border

There have been little evidence of major military movements in the frontier regions between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has displayed completion events of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The director of human resources department of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an interview that the army was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Past Background of the Dispute

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, the territory was governed by Italian rulers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the British military before becoming a integrated region of Ethiopia.

Yet in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year armed struggle followed, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then approved by voters in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, leading to war in 1998.

Even though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations continued at loggerheads.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two signed a statement that the war was finished – a decision that gained the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray.

But ties have later worsened again.