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Increasing worries are present regarding the possibility of armed conflict among East African countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for passage to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has triggered a heated verbal exchange.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in the previous year that his country's access to the sea was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Ties between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. Following a prolonged battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a long sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it landlocked.

Five years later, a border war started in which more than 100,000 people died.

Latest Comments from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and hinted at the wish to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of being denied passage to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea's separation would be "rectified soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrea's Answer to the Threats

In the face of ongoing threats from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for maritime entry labeling it "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "irredentism" – a approach of reclaiming lost territory.

The information ministry warned on recently that moves to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Region

So far, there are little evidence of large-scale army activities in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in the country, state television has displayed completion events of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The director of staff section of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our opponents".

Previous Roots of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was administered by Italian colonisers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the UK forces before turning into a associated territory of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s the ruler terminated this agreement and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long armed struggle occurred, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then endorsed by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their common border, causing hostilities in 1998.

Though this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations remained at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader the president. The two signed a statement that the conflict was concluded – a decision that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in the country's recent civil war in the northern region.

But ties have since broken down again.