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Mounting worries have emerged about the potential of armed conflict among East African countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational discourse has intensified in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has sparked a intense verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in last year that his nation's access to the sea was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrea dismissed.

Relations between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in 1993, making it without sea access.

In 1998, a territorial conflict erupted in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Current Statements from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and military leader the army commander have directly stated control of Eritrea's southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and hinted at the wish to seize it militarily.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "error" of losing access to the sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "rectified in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Threats

Amid continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for maritime entry labeling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a policy of reclaiming lost territory.

Eritrean authorities alerted on recently that moves to validate "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government 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 boundary zones between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast completion events of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The director of personnel division of the armed forces, General Hachalu, commented lately in an discussion that the army was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Past Background of the Tension

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was governed by Italian colonisers.

Following World War II, it was then controlled by the UK forces before evolving into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

But in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this agreement and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A extended civil war occurred, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then approved by voters in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries stayed at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader the president. The two endorsed a statement that the conflict was finished – a move that won the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The two governments were then allies in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 internal conflict in Tigray.

However relations have later worsened once more.