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Increasing concerns are present regarding the possibility of warfare between Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has provoked a fierce war of words.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in 2023 that his government's access to the sea was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Ties between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a border war broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean southern port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and suggested the wish to capture it through military means.

Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "rectified soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Threats

Amid ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been restricted to concise remarks on X from Communications Head the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for sea access labeling it "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of reclaiming previous domains.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on recently that attempts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Activities on the Region

There have been few indications of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in the country, state television has broadcast completion events of many recruits at various military training camps.

The leader of human resources department of the defense force, General Hachalu, stated recently in an discussion that the military was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Roots of the Dispute

For over fifty years from 1890, Eritrea was administered by Italian rulers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the ruler ended this system and Eritrea became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year internal conflict occurred, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Sovereignty was then approved by the population in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, 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 loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a announcement that the war was over – a decision that won Abiy the international recognition.

The both administrations were then cooperators in the country's previous armed struggle in the northern region.

However relations have later worsened once more.