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Mounting concerns exist about the possibility of armed conflict between Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has intensified in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a heated war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in the previous year that his nation's maritime access was an existential matter, statements that Eritrea rejected.

Ties between the both governments have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked.

Five years later, a border war broke out in which numerous people died.

Recent Statements from Ethiopian Officials

Abiy and military leader the army commander have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and hinted at the wish to take it by force.

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

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrean Response to the Claims

Amid continuous threats from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to short statements on online platforms from Communications Head the minister.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea describing it as "risky" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a policy of retaking lost territory.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on 16 September that moves to validate "blatant hostility" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Region

There have been little evidence of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has displayed graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at various military training camps.

The head of personnel division of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Historical Background of the Conflict

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, Eritrea was governed by colonial powers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the UK forces before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A extended armed struggle ensued, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by the population in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their shared boundary, resulting in war in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors continued at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the hostilities was finished – a move that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then partners in the country's previous internal conflict in Tigray.

But ties have later worsened once more.