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Increasing worries are present about the potential of armed conflict involving East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has escalated in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has sparked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in last year that his country's maritime access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea ignored.

Relations between the two countries have frequently been strained. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a military clash started in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Recent Comments from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and hinted at the desire to seize it militarily.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "rectified tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrean Answer to the Statements

Amid persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to short statements on social media from Communications Head the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea describing it as "risky" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a approach of retaking previous domains.

The information ministry warned on 16 September that moves to validate "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Ground

There have been few indications of major military movements in the border areas between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, government media has displayed completion events of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The leader of staff section of the defense force, General Hachalu, recently said in an interview that the army was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our enemies".

Previous Origins of the Dispute

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, the territory was governed by Italian rulers.

Following World War II, it was then administered by the British administration before becoming a federated part of Ethiopia.

However in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor ended this system and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long internal conflict occurred, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Sovereignty was then confirmed by voters in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their common border, causing war in 1998.

Although this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the both countries continued at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders signed a announcement that the hostilities was over – a decision that won the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in the country's previous civil war in the northern region.

Yet diplomatic connections have later worsened again.