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Growing apprehensions have emerged regarding the chance of warfare between East African neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as aggressive language has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has triggered a heated war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in last year that his country's maritime access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have frequently been strained. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it without sea access.

Subsequently, a military clash broke out in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Statements from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and army chief the army commander have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and suggested the wish to take it by force.

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

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrean Response to the Threats

In the face of ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been confined to brief comments on social media from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for sea access describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a policy of retaking lost territory.

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

Defense Preparations on the Region

There have been no reports of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the both nations.

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

The leader of staff section of the defense force, the officer, stated recently in an interview that the army was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Historical Origins of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was ruled by Italian rulers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the UK forces before becoming a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this arrangement and the region became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long internal conflict ensued, ending with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then confirmed by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their common border, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors continued at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the war was over – a move that earned the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The both administrations were then allies in the country's recent internal conflict in Tigray.

Yet relations have subsequently deteriorated anew.