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Mounting concerns are present about the potential of warfare among East African neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile rhetoric has intensified in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for entry to the maritime outlet through Eritrean territory has triggered a intense war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in 2023 that his government's sea access was an existential matter, remarks that Eritrea ignored.

Ties between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. Following a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in 1993, leaving it without sea access.

Subsequently, a territorial conflict broke out in which over a hundred thousand people were killed.

Current Statements from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and military leader the army commander have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrea's coastal city of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and suggested the desire to take it by force.

Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of losing access to the Red Sea as a because of Eritrea's separation would be "addressed in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrea's Answer to the Statements

In the face of continuous threats from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been confined to short statements on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for maritime entry calling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a approach of claiming back previous domains.

Government spokespeople warned on recently that attempts to validate "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Border

So far, there are no reports of major military movements in the border areas between the neighboring states.

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

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

Previous Origins of the Conflict

For decades from the late 19th century, the territory was ruled by Italian colonisers.

Following World War II, it was then managed by the UK forces before becoming a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in the early 1960s the ruler terminated this agreement and the region became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long armed struggle followed, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Sovereignty was then endorsed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, causing hostilities in 1998.

Although this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was partially applied, and the two nations stayed at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the conflict was finished – a decision that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then cooperators in Ethiopia's previous civil war in the northern region.

However diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated again.