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Growing apprehensions have emerged over the chance of military engagement among East African neighbors, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as hostile discourse has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for entry to the sea coast through Eritrea has provoked a heated rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in the previous year that his government's access to the sea was an existential matter, comments that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have often been tense. After a long-standing battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked.

In 1998, a territorial conflict started in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and army chief the army commander have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and suggested the intention to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "mistake" of being denied passage to the sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "rectified tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrean Reaction to the Statements

Despite persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been limited to short statements on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea describing it as "risky" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a strategy of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople alerted on mid-September that attempts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Border

So far, there are few indications of major military movements in the frontier regions between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, government media has shown graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The head of human resources department of the defense force, the officer, commented lately in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Historical Roots of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was administered by Italian colonisers.

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

However in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long armed struggle occurred, ending with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then approved by voters in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the exact location of their shared boundary, causing conflict in 1998.

Though this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries continued at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two endorsed a announcement that the hostilities was concluded – a decision that gained the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then allies in Ethiopia's previous civil war in the northern region.

But diplomatic connections have later worsened again.