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Mounting apprehensions are present over the potential of warfare among Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile language has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has provoked a intense verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in the previous year that his nation's sea access was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrea dismissed.

Ties between the both governments have often been tense. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it without sea access.

Five years later, a military clash started in which numerous people died.

Current Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrean coastal city of Assab – about 60km from the border - and hinted at the desire to take it by force.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "addressed soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "by force".

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

Despite ongoing challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to concise remarks on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for access to the Red Sea calling it "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a approach of retaking previous domains.

Eritrean authorities alerted on recently that attempts to justify "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Ground

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

However, in the country, state television has displayed graduation ceremonies of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The leader of human resources department of the military, the officer, commented lately in an interview that the army was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Historical Background of the Dispute

For decades from 1890, the territory was ruled by colonial powers.

Following Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the British military before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

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

A three-decade long civil war ensued, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then endorsed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Even though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the two nations remained at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrean President the president. The two agreed to a statement that the conflict was finished – a action that won Abiy the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then allies in the country's recent internal conflict in the northern region.

Yet ties have since broken down again.