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Growing apprehensions exist regarding the potential of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational discourse has intensified in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's calls for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has sparked a intense verbal exchange.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in 2023 that his nation's sea access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Relations between the two countries have frequently been strained. Following a prolonged fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it landlocked.

Five years later, a border war started in which numerous people were killed.

Current Comments from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and implied the intention to capture it through military means.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "mistake" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "rectified soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrean Response to the Threats

In the face of persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for sea access describing it as "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "expansionism" – a strategy of retaking lost territory.

Government spokespeople alerted on recently that moves to validate "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Border

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

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown graduation ceremonies of many recruits at various military training camps.

The leader of personnel division of the defense force, General Hachalu, commented lately in an discussion that the army was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Historical Background of the Tension

For decades from the late 19th century, Eritrea was ruled by Italian colonisers.

Following World War II, it was then administered by the British military before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the ruler cancelled this system and Eritrea became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long armed struggle ensued, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by the population in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, resulting in war in 1998.

Though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations remained at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President the president. The two agreed to a declaration that the hostilities was concluded – a action that gained the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then partners in Ethiopia's previous internal conflict in the northern region.

But relations have subsequently deteriorated once more.