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Mounting worries have emerged regarding the chance of armed conflict between East African neighbors, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as aggressive language has intensified in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a heated war of words.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in last year that his country's maritime access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a long-standing battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it without sea access.

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

Current Statements from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated control of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and hinted at the desire to seize it militarily.

In early September, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of being denied passage to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrean Reaction to the Claims

In the face of continuous challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access calling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a strategy of reclaiming former lands.

The information ministry warned on mid-September that moves to validate "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Ground

So far, there are little evidence of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in the country, national TV has displayed graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The head of human resources department of the military, the officer, stated recently in an conversation that the military was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Previous Origins of the Tension

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, the territory was ruled by colonial powers.

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

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

A thirty-year civil war occurred, ending with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Although this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors stayed at odds.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders agreed to a statement that the war was finished – a move that earned Abiy the prestigious award.

The both administrations were then allies in Ethiopia's previous internal conflict in Tigray.

Yet relations have since broken down anew.