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Growing apprehensions exist about the potential of warfare between Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has escalated in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has provoked a heated war of words.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in the previous year that his government's sea access was an existential matter, comments that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Relations between the both governments have frequently been strained. After a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in 1993, rendering it landlocked.

In 1998, a territorial conflict started in which numerous people died.

Current Remarks from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrean coastal city of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the border - and suggested the wish to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "addressed soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Statements

Amid ongoing warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been confined to concise remarks on social media from Communications Head the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access labeling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a strategy of retaking former lands.

Government spokespeople alerted on recently that attempts to validate "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Ground

Currently, there are little evidence of major military movements in the border areas between the neighboring states.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown completion events of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of personnel division of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an interview that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Roots of the Conflict

For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was governed by colonial powers.

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

However in the early 1960s the ruler ended this system and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long internal conflict ensued, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then confirmed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, leading to war in 1998.

Although this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the neighbors continued at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The two signed a declaration that the war was finished – a move that won the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then partners in the country's 2020-2022 armed struggle in Tigray.

Yet ties have since broken down once more.