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Mounting apprehensions have emerged regarding the potential of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile language has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for access to the sea coast through Eritrea has triggered a intense war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in last year that his nation's maritime access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrea dismissed.

Ties between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Five years later, a border war broke out in which more than 100,000 people died.

Current Statements from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and suggested the intention to take it by force.

Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "corrected tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Despite ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been limited to brief comments on social media from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for sea access describing it as "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a approach of claiming back previous domains.

The information ministry warned on recently that efforts to validate "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Border

So far, there are no reports of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in the country, state television has broadcast graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The head of personnel division of the military, the officer, stated recently in an interview that the military was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Historical Origins of the Dispute

For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was governed by colonial powers.

After World War II, it was then administered by the British administration before evolving into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

Yet in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this arrangement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year internal conflict followed, concluding with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then confirmed by voters in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, causing conflict in 1998.

Even though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries stayed at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two signed a announcement that the hostilities was finished – a decision that won Abiy the international recognition.

The both administrations were then partners in the country's 2020-2022 armed struggle in the northern region.

Yet ties have subsequently deteriorated again.