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Growing apprehensions have emerged about the possibility of armed conflict between Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has escalated in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for passage to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has triggered a heated verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in 2023 that his government's access to the sea was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea ignored.

Relations between the neighboring nations have often been tense. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it without sea access.

Five years later, a territorial conflict broke out in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and implied the desire to capture it through military means.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Amid ongoing challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to short statements on X from Information Minister the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for sea access calling it "risky" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a policy of reclaiming lost territory.

Eritrean authorities warned on mid-September that attempts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Region

So far, there are no reports of major military movements in the boundary zones between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has displayed training completions of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of staff section of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Conflict

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was governed by Italian colonisers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British military before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 the ruler cancelled this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year internal conflict ensued, finishing with the government's loss in 1991. Independence was then approved by the population in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, causing war in 1998.

Though this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations continued at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President the president. The two agreed to a statement that the war was finished – a decision that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then allies in the country's previous armed struggle in Tigray.

But ties have subsequently deteriorated again.