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Growing apprehensions exist about the potential of armed conflict among East African countries, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as aggressive rhetoric has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrea has triggered a heated rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in the previous year that his nation's sea access was an existential matter, comments that Eritrea dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked.

Subsequently, a border war broke out in which more than 100,000 people died.

Recent Statements from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader the army commander have openly claimed ownership of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and suggested the wish to take it by force.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "corrected soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrea's Response to the Threats

In the face of ongoing challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to short statements on social media from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for sea access describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a approach of reclaiming lost territory.

Eritrean authorities alerted on mid-September that efforts to justify "blatant hostility" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Border

There have been few indications of major military movements in the border areas between the two countries.

However, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown graduation ceremonies of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of staff section of the military, the officer, commented lately in an conversation that the army was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Past Origins of the Tension

For over fifty years from 1890, Eritrea was administered by colonial powers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British administration before evolving into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year internal conflict followed, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Independence was then confirmed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Even though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors stayed at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two signed a declaration that the hostilities was over – a decision that won Abiy the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then allies in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in the northern region.

Yet diplomatic connections have later worsened once more.