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Mounting apprehensions have emerged over the potential of armed conflict involving Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as hostile language has escalated in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has provoked a intense verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in 2023 that his country's access to the sea was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea ignored.

Relations between the both governments have frequently been strained. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it without sea access.

Subsequently, a border war broke out in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Statements from Ethiopian Officials

Abiy and army chief the army commander have openly claimed control of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and suggested the desire to take it by force.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "corrected soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrea's Response to the Statements

Despite ongoing threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been restricted to brief comments on X from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for sea access describing it as "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of claiming back former lands.

Eritrean authorities warned on mid-September that attempts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Region

Currently, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has broadcast completion events of many recruits at different defense facilities.

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

Past Roots of the Conflict

For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was ruled by colonial powers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the British administration before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor ended this agreement and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year armed struggle followed, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

Although this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations continued at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders signed a statement that the hostilities was concluded – a decision that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then partners in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in Tigray.

But diplomatic connections have since broken down once more.