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Increasing apprehensions exist over the possibility of military engagement involving Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational language has intensified in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has triggered a intense war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in the previous year that his government's access to the sea was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrea ignored.

Relations between the both governments have regularly been difficult. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, rendering it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a border war broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted control of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and hinted at the intention to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "rectified tomorrow".

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

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

Amid ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to short statements on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea labeling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a policy of retaking former lands.

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

Military Movements on the Border

So far, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the both nations.

However, in Ethiopia, government media has shown graduation ceremonies of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The director of personnel division of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an interview that the army was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of youths" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Historical Roots of the Tension

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, Eritrea was governed by Italian rulers.

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British military before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

But in the early 1960s the ruler ended this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year armed struggle ensued, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then approved by the population in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, resulting in war in 1998.

Though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations remained at odds.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two endorsed a declaration that the hostilities was finished – a move that won the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then allies in the country's recent civil war in the northern region.

But relations have later worsened once more.