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Mounting concerns exist regarding the possibility of armed conflict involving East African countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile language has intensified in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has sparked a heated war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed initially stated publicly in the previous year that his country's maritime access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. Following a prolonged fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in 1993, rendering it without sea access.

Five years later, a territorial conflict erupted in which numerous people were killed.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and suggested the intention to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "rectified in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrean Answer to the Statements

Despite persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to short statements on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for maritime entry calling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a policy of claiming back former lands.

The information ministry alerted on 16 September that efforts to validate "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Region

There have been no reports of major military movements in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, national TV has shown completion events of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of staff section of the armed forces, General Hachalu, commented lately in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Previous Roots of the Dispute

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was ruled by colonial powers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the UK forces before turning into a federated part of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor ended this agreement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year civil war ensued, finishing with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then confirmed 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 fell out over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, resulting in war in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries continued at in dispute.

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

The neighboring states were then partners in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in Tigray.

But ties have later worsened anew.