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Mounting concerns are present about the chance of warfare between Horn of Africa neighbours, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has intensified in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for access to the sea coast through Eritrea has provoked a heated verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in last year that his country's sea access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrea dismissed.

Relations between the two countries have often been tense. After a decades-long struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it landlocked.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict erupted in which numerous people were killed.

Current Statements from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and suggested the desire to seize it militarily.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing entry to the sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "addressed in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Claims

Amid persistent warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to concise remarks on social media from Information Minister Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for maritime entry calling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of retaking former lands.

Eritrean authorities warned on recently that attempts to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Region

There have been little evidence of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, government media has shown training completions of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The leader of staff section of the military, General Hachalu, commented lately in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Past Origins of the Tension

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

Following World War II, it was then controlled by the British military before evolving into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

However in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this agreement and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long internal conflict ensued, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then approved by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, causing hostilities in 1998.

Though this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors continued at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two signed a declaration that the hostilities was over – a move that gained Abiy the international recognition.

The both administrations were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 armed struggle in Tigray.

Yet ties have since broken down anew.