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Increasing concerns exist regarding the chance of warfare among East African neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive discourse has intensified in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in last year that his country's access to the sea was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have often been tense. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, rendering it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a military clash erupted in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Remarks from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader the army commander have publicly asserted control of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and hinted at the intention to seize it militarily.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing entry to the sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "addressed tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrean Answer to the Statements

Despite persistent threats from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to short statements on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea describing it as "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a approach of reclaiming lost territory.

Eritrean authorities alerted on recently that efforts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Ground

So far, there are few indications of major military movements in the border areas between the neighboring states.

However, in Ethiopia, national TV has displayed graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The head of human resources department of the military, General Hachalu, commented lately in an interview that the army was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Historical Roots of the Dispute

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, Eritrea was governed by Italian colonisers.

After World War II, it was then managed by the British administration before evolving into a associated territory of Ethiopia.

But in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long internal conflict occurred, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, leading to conflict in 1998.

Although this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors stayed at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the hostilities was concluded – a move that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

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

Yet relations have subsequently deteriorated again.