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Growing worries are present regarding the possibility of military engagement involving East African countries, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational language has intensified in the last month.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for access to the sea coast through Eritrean territory has provoked a heated war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in the previous year that his country's access to the sea was an vital issue, statements that Eritrea rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have frequently been strained. After a prolonged fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it without sea access.

Five years later, a border war started in which numerous people lost their lives.

Current Remarks from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrean coastal city of Assab – some 60 km from the boundary - and suggested the intention to seize it militarily.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "blunder" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "corrected tomorrow".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that the port was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "using武力".

Eritrean Response to the Statements

Despite persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been limited to short statements on social media from Information Minister the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopian requests for access to the Red Sea describing it as "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a approach of reclaiming former lands.

Eritrean authorities alerted on 16 September that moves to validate "flagrant aggression" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Border

So far, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the both nations.

However, in Ethiopia, state television has shown graduation ceremonies of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The director of human resources department of the military, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, recently said in an interview that the defense forces was in a "reliable position" as "many thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a signal to our adversaries".

Historical Background of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was administered by Italian colonisers.

After World War II, it was then administered by the British administration before evolving into a federated part of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in 1962 the ruler terminated this agreement and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long internal conflict followed, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Independence was then confirmed by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the exact location of their common border, causing conflict in 1998.

Though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors remained at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a statement that the hostilities was finished – a move that earned Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then allies in the country's 2020-2022 internal conflict in the northern region.

But ties have subsequently deteriorated again.