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Increasing concerns exist about the possibility of armed conflict between East African neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational language has intensified in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has provoked a intense rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in last year that his nation's maritime access was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrea ignored.

Ties between the two countries have frequently been strained. Following a long-standing struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a long Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it without sea access.

In 1998, a territorial conflict started in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Current Statements from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – about 60km from the border - and implied the wish to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "corrected in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrean Reaction to the Statements

Amid persistent threats from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been restricted to brief comments on X from Information Minister Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for maritime entry describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "irredentism" – a policy of claiming back lost territory.

The information ministry alerted on mid-September that efforts to justify "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Border

There have been no reports of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, national TV has displayed graduation ceremonies of many recruits at various military training camps.

The leader of staff section of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an conversation that the army was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Dispute

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, Eritrea was ruled by Italian rulers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the British military before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the ruler cancelled this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year armed struggle followed, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then endorsed by voters in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Although this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the two nations stayed at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President the president. The two signed a statement that the war was over – a move that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's recent civil war in Tigray.

But diplomatic connections have since broken down once more.