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Mounting apprehensions exist regarding the potential of warfare involving East African neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational discourse has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has sparked a heated verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in last year that his country's access to the sea was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Ties between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. After a long-standing battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a military clash started in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrean southern port of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and suggested the intention to capture it through military means.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "addressed in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrean Answer to the Threats

Amid ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to short statements on social media from Information Minister Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back former lands.

Government spokespeople cautioned on recently that efforts to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Ground

Currently, there are no reports of major military movements in the frontier regions between the both nations.

However, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast training completions of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The director of human resources department of the armed forces, General Hachalu, stated recently in an discussion that the army was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Previous Roots of the Dispute

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

After Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the British administration before becoming a federated part of Ethiopia.

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long internal conflict ensued, ending with the government's loss in 1991. Sovereignty was then confirmed by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, causing conflict in 1998.

Even though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries remained at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a announcement that the conflict was finished – a action that gained the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

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

Yet ties have later worsened once more.