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Mounting concerns have emerged about the possibility of military engagement between East African neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational discourse has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for entry to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in the previous year that his government's sea access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it landlocked.

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

Latest Remarks from Ethiopian Officials

Abiy and army chief the army commander have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's southern port of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and implied the wish to capture it through military means.

In early September, Abiy said the country's "error" of losing entry to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "corrected tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrean Answer to the Threats

Amid persistent warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to brief comments on social media from Information Minister Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a strategy of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry cautioned on recently that attempts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Activities on the Ground

Currently, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in the country, state television has shown completion events of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The director of staff section of the defense force, the officer, commented lately in an interview that the military was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Past Background of the Conflict

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, Eritrea was administered by Italian colonisers.

After World War II, it was then controlled by the UK forces before becoming a associated territory of Ethiopia.

However in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor ended this system and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year internal conflict ensued, finishing with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then confirmed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they clashed over the exact location of their shared boundary, leading to conflict in 1998.

Although this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries stayed at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders signed a announcement that the conflict was concluded – a move that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then cooperators in the country's recent internal conflict in the northern region.

Yet relations have subsequently deteriorated once more.