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Growing worries have emerged regarding the chance of armed conflict between East African countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational language has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has triggered a fierce verbal exchange.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in last year that his nation's access to the sea was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Ties between the both governments have regularly been difficult. Following a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a long sea border, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it landlocked.

Five years later, a territorial conflict erupted in which numerous people were killed.

Recent Statements from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief the army commander have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrean southern port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and hinted at the intention to capture it through military means.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "corrected in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Statements

Amid continuous challenges from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been limited to concise remarks on online platforms from Information Minister the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access calling it "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a policy of claiming back previous domains.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on mid-September that moves to validate "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Region

There have been no reports of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the two countries.

However, in the country, government media has broadcast graduation ceremonies of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The leader of human resources department of the armed forces, General Hachalu, commented lately in an interview that the military was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Previous Origins of the Tension

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

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the UK forces before evolving into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

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

A three-decade long armed struggle occurred, concluding with military reversal in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then approved by voters in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, leading to conflict in 1998.

Although this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations stayed at odds.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two agreed to a statement that the hostilities was over – a action that gained the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The two governments were then allies in the country's previous civil war in Tigray.

However diplomatic connections have later worsened anew.