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Increasing apprehensions have emerged about the potential of military engagement among Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational language has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has provoked a intense rhetorical conflict.

PM Abiy Ahmed initially stated publicly in the previous year that his country's maritime access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a extensive maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a border war started in which more than 100,000 people died.

Recent Statements from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and military leader the army commander have publicly asserted control of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and suggested the wish to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "addressed tomorrow".

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

Eritrean Reaction to the Claims

Amid ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to brief comments on X from Communications Head Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea calling it "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople warned on mid-September that efforts to justify "obvious provocation" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Activities on the Region

So far, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the neighboring states.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, government media has shown graduation ceremonies of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The leader of human resources department of the military, the officer, stated recently in an interview that the military was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Historical Origins of the Tension

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was governed by Italian colonisers.

Following World War II, it was then administered by the British military before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

However in 1962 the ruler cancelled this agreement and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year civil war ensued, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then confirmed by voters in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the exact location of their shared boundary, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Although this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations continued at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the conflict was concluded – a action that won the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The two governments were then allies in the country's 2020-2022 internal conflict in the northern region.

Yet diplomatic connections have later worsened again.