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Mounting concerns exist over the chance of military engagement involving Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational language has escalated in the last month.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has sparked a intense war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in 2023 that his nation's access to the sea was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have often been tense. Following a prolonged struggle for freedom, Eritrea, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it without sea access.

Five years later, a military clash broke out in which numerous people died.

Current Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and implied the intention to take it by force.

In early September, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "using武力".

Eritrean Answer to the Statements

In the face of continuous challenges from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been restricted to concise remarks on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane G..

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for maritime entry labeling it "hazardous" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back previous domains.

Eritrean authorities alerted on 16 September that attempts to validate "obvious provocation" would have major implications for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Region

There have been no reports of major military movements in the frontier regions between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in the country, government media has broadcast graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The director of staff section of the defense force, the officer, recently said in an interview that the military was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our enemies".

Past Roots of the Tension

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

Following World War II, it was then controlled by the British military before turning into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

But in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long armed struggle occurred, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Independence was then approved by Eritreans in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they fell out over the exact location of their common border, leading to conflict in 1998.

Although this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations stayed at loggerheads.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrea's leader President Isaias. The two signed a declaration that the war was over – a decision that won the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then partners in Ethiopia's recent civil war in Tigray.

However diplomatic connections have later worsened anew.