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Increasing apprehensions have emerged about the possibility of warfare among East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as aggressive language has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for entry to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has triggered a fierce verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in last year that his country's sea access was an existential matter, statements that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Ties between the two countries have frequently been strained. Following a decades-long struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, rendering it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a territorial conflict erupted in which more than 100,000 people were killed.

Recent Statements from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed ownership of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and suggested the intention to take it by force.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing entry to the sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "rectified soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Answer to the Claims

Despite continuous warnings from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to brief comments on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for sea access describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a approach of claiming back lost territory.

The information ministry alerted on mid-September that attempts to justify "obvious provocation" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Border

Currently, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the two countries.

However, in Ethiopia, government media has broadcast completion events of many recruits at various military training camps.

The head of personnel division of the military, the officer, stated recently in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Past Origins of the Tension

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

After Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the British military before turning into a associated territory of Ethiopia.

But in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this agreement and Eritrea became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A extended armed struggle ensued, ending with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then approved by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they clashed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries remained at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders endorsed a announcement that the conflict was over – a action that earned Abiy the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then allies in Ethiopia's previous internal conflict in Tigray.

However ties have subsequently deteriorated again.