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Increasing concerns are present over the potential of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational discourse has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for entry to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has sparked a intense war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in last year that his government's sea access was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Relations between the both governments have often been tense. Following a long-standing fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

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

Recent Comments from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – about 60km from the boundary - and hinted at the intention to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "corrected tomorrow".

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

Eritrean Answer to the Statements

Amid ongoing challenges from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been limited to brief comments on social media from Communications Head Yemane G..

Officials have denied Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry calling it "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "expansionism" – a policy of retaking previous domains.

The information ministry cautioned on recently that attempts to justify "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Border

So far, there are few indications of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

However, in Ethiopia, national TV has displayed graduation ceremonies of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The leader of personnel division of the defense force, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an discussion that the military was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Previous Roots of the Conflict

For decades from the late 19th century, Eritrea was governed by Italian rulers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the British administration before becoming a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

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

A extended internal conflict ensued, concluding with military reversal in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then approved by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were good relations between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the exact location of their common border, resulting in war in 1998.

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

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader the president. The both leaders endorsed a statement that the war was over – a decision that won Abiy the international recognition.

The neighboring states were then partners in Ethiopia's recent civil war in Tigray.

However ties have later worsened anew.