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Growing concerns are present over the potential of military engagement between East African countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational discourse has intensified in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in last year that his government's sea access was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Ties between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long sea border, formally separated from Ethiopia in 1993, making it landlocked.

In 1998, a territorial conflict started in which more than 100,000 people were killed.

Recent Statements from Ethiopian Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – about 60km from the border - and implied the desire to take it by force.

On 1 September, Abiy said the country's "mistake" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "addressed in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrean Reaction to the Threats

Despite continuous threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been limited to short statements on social media from Information Minister Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea labeling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a policy of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry warned on recently that moves to validate "blatant hostility" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Ground

There have been no reports of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, state television has shown graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The head of human resources department of the defense force, the officer, commented lately in an interview that the military was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Previous Background of the Conflict

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was administered by colonial powers.

After World War II, it was then administered by the British military before turning into a federated part of Ethiopia.

Yet in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor terminated this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A extended armed struggle occurred, concluding with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then endorsed by the population in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their common border, causing conflict in 1998.

Though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries stayed at odds.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two signed a statement that the hostilities was finished – a move that gained the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in the country's recent civil war in the northern region.

But relations have since broken down again.