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Growing apprehensions are present over the possibility of warfare involving East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as hostile rhetoric has escalated in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has sparked a fierce verbal exchange.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in last year that his government's access to the sea was an vital issue, statements that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Ties between the both governments have regularly been difficult. Following a prolonged battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a long Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, making it cut off from the sea.

In 1998, a military clash started in which more than 100,000 people were killed.

Current Remarks from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and suggested the desire to seize it militarily.

Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "corrected tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Threats

Despite continuous challenges 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 demand for sea access calling it "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back lost territory.

Government spokespeople warned on 16 September that efforts to justify "obvious provocation" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Border

Currently, there are no reports of major military movements in the border areas between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, state television has displayed graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The head of personnel division of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an discussion that the army was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Roots of the Tension

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

After World War II, it was then administered by the British military before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

But in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this system and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended internal conflict ensued, finishing with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then confirmed by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Though this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries remained at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a announcement that the conflict was finished – a move that earned the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then allies in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in Tigray.

Yet relations have since broken down anew.