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Mounting concerns have emerged over the possibility of armed conflict involving Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for entry to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in the previous year that his government's sea access was an existential matter, comments that Eritrea dismissed.

Relations between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a territorial conflict broke out in which more than 100,000 people died.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrean coastal city of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and suggested the wish to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "rectified tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Statements

In the face of continuous challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to brief comments on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry describing it as "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a policy of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople cautioned on recently that attempts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Ground

So far, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the both nations.

However, in the country, national TV has broadcast training completions of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The director of staff section of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Previous Roots of the Conflict

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was governed by Italian colonisers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the British administration before becoming a integrated region of Ethiopia.

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

A thirty-year internal conflict followed, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the exact location of their shared boundary, leading to conflict in 1998.

Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors stayed at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two endorsed a declaration that the war was finished – a action that won Abiy the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous armed struggle in Tigray.

However diplomatic connections have later worsened anew.