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Mounting concerns have emerged about the chance of armed conflict involving East African countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as hostile discourse has escalated in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a intense verbal exchange.

The Ethiopian leader first openly declared in the previous year that his country's maritime access was an vital issue, statements that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the two countries have often been tense. After a decades-long battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, rendering it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a military clash erupted in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Recent Statements from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – about 60km from the border - and suggested the desire to capture it through military means.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea's separation would be "addressed tomorrow".

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

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

In the face of continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been limited to short statements on social media from Communications Head Yemane G..

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

The information ministry cautioned on recently that moves to validate "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Military Movements on the Ground

Currently, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

However, in the country, government media has displayed training completions of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The leader of personnel division of the defense force, General Hachalu, stated recently in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Previous Background of the Tension

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

Following the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the British military before turning into a associated territory of Ethiopia.

Yet in 1962 the ruler terminated this arrangement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long internal conflict occurred, ending with the government's loss in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by voters in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, causing hostilities in 1998.

Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors remained at loggerheads.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two signed a declaration that the hostilities was concluded – a action that won Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then allies in the country's previous civil war in the northern region.

However ties have since broken down once more.