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Increasing apprehensions have emerged about the possibility of armed conflict involving East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational rhetoric has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for access to the sea coast through Eritrea has provoked a intense verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in last year that his government's maritime access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Ties between the both governments have often been tense. Following a long-standing fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it without sea access.

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

Recent Comments from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated control of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and implied the wish to seize it militarily.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "addressed in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

In the face of persistent threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been confined to short statements on X from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for sea access calling it "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a approach of claiming back former lands.

Eritrean authorities cautioned on recently that efforts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Ground

So far, there are little evidence of major military movements in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in the country, state television has displayed graduation ceremonies of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The head of staff section of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an conversation that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Previous Origins of the Conflict

For over fifty years from 1890, the territory was governed by Italian colonisers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the British military before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

But in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this agreement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year civil war ensued, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then endorsed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their common border, leading to conflict in 1998.

Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries continued at odds.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two signed a announcement that the war was over – a action that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

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

However diplomatic connections have since broken down once more.