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Mounting apprehensions exist regarding the possibility of warfare among Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational rhetoric has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for entry to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has sparked a fierce rhetorical conflict.

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

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have regularly been difficult. After a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in 1993, rendering it landlocked.

Five years later, a border war started in which over a hundred thousand people were killed.

Current Statements from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and implied the desire to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "mistake" of losing access to the Red Sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "corrected tomorrow".

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

Eritrean Reaction to the Statements

Despite continuous challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been restricted to concise remarks on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopian requests for sea access describing it as "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "irredentism" – a strategy of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry warned on recently that efforts to justify "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Border

There have been no reports of major military movements in the border areas between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in the country, national TV has shown completion events of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The director of personnel division of the armed forces, General Hachalu, stated recently in an discussion that the military was in a "secure situation" as "numerous of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a signal to our opponents".

Historical Origins of the Tension

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

Following Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the British military before evolving into a federated part of Ethiopia.

Yet in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor ended this agreement and the region became totally absorbed into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long armed struggle followed, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then confirmed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the leadership in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their mutual frontier, causing war in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries stayed at odds.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrean President the president. The two signed a announcement that the hostilities was over – a decision that won Abiy the international recognition.

The two governments were then partners in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in Tigray.

However relations have later worsened again.