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Mounting worries have emerged regarding the possibility of warfare involving East African countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile discourse has escalated in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for entry to the sea coast through Eritrea has provoked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in last year that his country's access to the sea was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have frequently been strained. Following a long-standing battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a extensive sea border, formally separated from Ethiopia in 1993, making it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a military clash broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Recent Statements from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and suggested the wish to capture it through military means.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of losing entry to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "rectified soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Statements

Despite continuous warnings from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been restricted to short statements on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a policy of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople warned on mid-September that efforts to justify "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Ground

So far, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has displayed completion events of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The director of personnel division of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an discussion that the army was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Historical Background of the Dispute

For decades from the late 19th century, Eritrea was administered by Italian colonisers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the British military before evolving into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

However in the early 1960s the ruler ended this agreement and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended civil war followed, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then endorsed by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, leading to conflict in 1998.

Even though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries continued at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader the president. The two signed a declaration that the conflict was concluded – a decision that won the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in the country's 2020-2022 internal conflict in the northern region.

But relations have later worsened again.