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Mounting apprehensions exist over the potential of military engagement involving Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrea has provoked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in the previous year that his country's sea access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Relations between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked.

Five years later, a territorial conflict broke out in which more than 100,000 people died.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopia's Leadership

Abiy and military leader the army commander have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and hinted at the wish to capture it through military means.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access to the sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "corrected in the future".

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

Eritrean Answer to the Threats

In the face of ongoing warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to brief comments on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for sea access calling it "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of reclaiming lost territory.

Eritrean authorities alerted on mid-September that moves to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Region

So far, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the both nations.

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

The leader of personnel division of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an conversation that the army was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Historical Origins of the Dispute

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

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the British military before evolving into a federated part of Ethiopia.

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

A three-decade long armed struggle occurred, concluding with the government's loss in 1991. Independence was then endorsed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the exact location of their common border, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors stayed at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders agreed to a statement that the hostilities was concluded – a decision that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

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

However relations have since broken down once more.