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Growing concerns are present about the chance of warfare involving East African countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has escalated in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a intense rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in 2023 that his country's access to the sea was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it landlocked.

In 1998, a border war broke out in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Latest Statements from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrea's southern port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and implied the intention to take it by force.

On 1 September, Abiy said the country's "mistake" of being denied passage to the sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "corrected tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

Amid continuous warnings from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been limited to short statements on social media from Communications Head the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a approach of reclaiming previous domains.

Eritrean authorities alerted on recently that moves to validate "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Preparations on the Ground

There have been few indications of large-scale army activities in the border areas between the two countries.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has displayed completion events of thousands of cadets at multiple army bases.

The head of human resources department of the defense force, General Hachalu, recently said in an interview that the military was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Historical Background of the Conflict

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

Following World War II, it was then administered by the UK forces before becoming a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the ruler ended this system and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year armed struggle occurred, ending with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then confirmed by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, leading to war in 1998.

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

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two signed a statement that the conflict was finished – a decision that won the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then partners in Ethiopia's previous civil war in the northern region.

However relations have since broken down once more.