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Growing concerns exist over the possibility of armed conflict between East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as hostile language has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

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

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in 2023 that his nation's maritime access was an existential matter, comments that Eritrea dismissed.

Ties between the two countries have often been tense. Following a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a military clash started in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted control of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – about 60km from the border - and implied the wish to capture it through military means.

Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "rectified in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrea's Response to the Statements

Amid persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on X from Communications Head the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for sea access describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of claiming back previous domains.

Eritrean authorities alerted on 16 September that moves to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Region

There have been little evidence of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, government media has shown training completions of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The leader of personnel division of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an interview that the military was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Historical Origins of the Dispute

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

Following World War II, it was then administered by the UK forces before turning into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

But in the early 1960s the ruler cancelled this agreement and Eritrea became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long armed struggle ensued, ending with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then endorsed by voters in a plebiscite 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 disagreed over the precise positioning of their common border, resulting in war in 1998.

Though this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries stayed at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders signed a declaration that the conflict was finished – a action that earned Abiy the prestigious award.

The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's recent civil war in Tigray.

But relations have subsequently deteriorated anew.