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Growing apprehensions have emerged regarding the chance of military engagement involving Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational language has intensified in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has triggered a intense war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in 2023 that his country's maritime access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. Following a decades-long battle for independence, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, leaving it without sea access.

Five years later, a military clash broke out in which more than 100,000 people were killed.

Current Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and military leader General Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and hinted at the wish to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing entry to the sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "corrected soon".

The Ethiopian envoy to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Statements

Amid persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for maritime entry describing it as "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "irredentism" – a strategy of claiming back lost territory.

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

Security Activities on the Region

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

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has shown graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The head of human resources department of the defense force, General Hachalu, commented lately in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "many thousands of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Historical Background of the Tension

For decades from 1890, Eritrea was ruled by Italian colonisers.

After World War II, it was then controlled by the British military before evolving into a associated territory of Ethiopia.

Yet in 1962 the ruler ended this agreement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year civil war occurred, concluding with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by the population in a referendum in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Ethiopia's capital and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, leading to hostilities in 1998.

Although this finished in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors continued at loggerheads.

This changed in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President the president. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the conflict was over – a decision that earned Abiy the prestigious award.

The two governments were then partners in the country's previous civil war in the northern region.

Yet diplomatic connections have later worsened again.