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Increasing concerns exist regarding the potential of military engagement among Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational language has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has triggered a fierce rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in the previous year that his government's access to the sea was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Relations between the both governments have often been tense. Following a long-standing battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long sea border, formally separated from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it landlocked.

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

Current Statements from Ethiopian Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated control of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and suggested the desire to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "corrected tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrean Answer to the Threats

In the face of persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been confined to short statements on X from Communications Head Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a policy of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry alerted on recently that efforts to validate "flagrant aggression" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Activities on the Region

So far, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the both nations.

However, in the country, national TV has broadcast completion events of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The director of staff section of the armed forces, the officer, commented lately in an conversation that the military was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Historical Roots of the Conflict

For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was governed by Italian rulers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then managed by the UK forces before turning into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

But in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this system and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year armed struggle occurred, ending with the government's loss in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Although this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries stayed at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader the president. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the war was over – a move that won the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then cooperators in the country's 2020-2022 internal conflict in Tigray.

But ties have later worsened once more.