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Increasing concerns are present regarding the potential of military engagement involving East African countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile language has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for access to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a heated rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in last year that his country's maritime access was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Ties between the two countries have frequently been strained. Following a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it without sea access.

Subsequently, a military clash erupted in which more than 100,000 people died.

Current Statements from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrean coastal city of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and implied the desire to seize it militarily.

In early September, Abiy said the country's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "corrected in the future".

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

Eritrean Answer to the Threats

Despite continuous warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for sea access calling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a strategy of retaking former lands.

The information ministry cautioned on recently that moves to validate "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Border

So far, there are no reports of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the both nations.

However, in the country, state television has displayed graduation ceremonies of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The director of personnel division of the armed forces, the officer, stated recently in an interview that the military was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Historical Background of the Dispute

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was administered by Italian rulers.

Following World War II, it was then administered by the British administration before becoming a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor ended this agreement and Eritrea became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A extended internal conflict followed, concluding with military reversal in 1991. Sovereignty was then approved by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their common border, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Although this finished in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries stayed at loggerheads.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two endorsed a announcement that the war was concluded – a action that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous armed struggle in Tigray.

Yet diplomatic connections have since broken down once more.