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Growing concerns exist over the possibility of warfare between Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational discourse has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has sparked a heated war of words.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in 2023 that his nation's sea access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Relations between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopia in 1993, making it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict broke out in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Latest Comments from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated control of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and hinted at the desire to take it by force.

In early September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "corrected soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrea's Response to the Statements

Amid persistent warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to brief comments on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea describing it as "risky" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a policy of claiming back lost territory.

Government spokespeople alerted on mid-September that moves to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Region

Currently, there are no reports of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

However, in Ethiopia, government media has shown graduation ceremonies of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of staff section of the defense force, the officer, commented lately in an conversation that the military was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Past Background of the Tension

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was administered by Italian rulers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the British administration before becoming a associated territory of Ethiopia.

However in the early 1960s the ruler cancelled this system and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long civil war occurred, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the exact location of their shared boundary, causing war in 1998.

Although this finished in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries remained at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two agreed to a declaration that the war was concluded – a move that gained Abiy the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in the country's 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray.

However relations have subsequently deteriorated anew.