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Growing worries exist over the chance of armed conflict among Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile rhetoric has escalated in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Declared?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for entry to the sea coast through Eritrea has sparked a heated verbal exchange.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in last year that his country's sea access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have frequently been strained. After a prolonged battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it landlocked.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict started in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrean maritime facility of the port of Assab – about 60km from the border - and hinted at the intention to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing entry to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Statements

Despite ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Eritrea's reaction has been confined to brief comments on social media from Information Minister the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for sea access calling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a policy of retaking former lands.

Government spokespeople cautioned on 16 September that attempts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Border

There have been few indications of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has displayed training completions of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The leader of human resources department of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of youths" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Historical Roots of the Dispute

For decades from 1890, the territory was administered by Italian rulers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the British administration before turning into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this arrangement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long civil war occurred, ending with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then approved by voters in a plebiscite in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they clashed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, resulting in conflict in 1998.

Even though this finished in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries remained at loggerheads.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The both leaders agreed to a statement that the conflict was over – a move that gained Abiy the international recognition.

The two governments were then allies in Ethiopia's previous armed struggle in the northern region.

However relations have later worsened again.