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Mounting worries are present about the chance of armed conflict involving East African countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive rhetoric has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for passage to the sea coast through Eritrea has sparked a heated rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in the previous year that his nation's maritime access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Relations between the two countries have often been tense. After a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a extensive maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it landlocked.

Five years later, a border war started in which more than 100,000 people died.

Recent Comments from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrean coastal city of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and hinted at the desire to take it by force.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "corrected soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Amid persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to brief comments on social media from Communications Head Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea labeling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a strategy of retaking lost territory.

Government spokespeople cautioned on mid-September that moves to justify "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Border

So far, there are little evidence of major military movements in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast completion events of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The leader of staff section of the military, the officer, recently said in an interview that the military was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Previous Origins of the Conflict

For decades from 1890, the territory was ruled by Italian rulers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the UK forces before evolving into a associated territory of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s the ruler terminated this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year armed struggle occurred, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Independence was then endorsed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their shared boundary, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries remained at odds.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a announcement that the hostilities was over – a move that won the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The two governments were then partners in Ethiopia's previous internal conflict in Tigray.

However diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated again.