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Growing concerns have emerged over the potential of military engagement between East African neighbours, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as confrontational discourse has escalated in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has sparked a fierce war of words.

The Ethiopian leader previously announced in last year that his government's access to the sea was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities ignored.

Relations between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. Following a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a long sea border, formally separated from Ethiopia in 1993, rendering it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a military clash started in which over a hundred thousand people were killed.

Current Comments from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have openly claimed sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and implied the desire to take it by force.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "mistake" of being denied passage to the sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "rectified tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

Amid continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been limited to short statements on social media from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopian requests for maritime entry labeling it "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "territorial claims" – a policy of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry warned on 16 September that attempts to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Ground

So far, there are little evidence of major military movements in the frontier regions between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has displayed graduation ceremonies of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of human resources department of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an interview that the army was in a "strong stance" as "many thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Past Roots of the Tension

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

After the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the UK forces before evolving into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

Yet in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this agreement and Eritrea became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A thirty-year armed struggle followed, concluding with military reversal in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then confirmed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the exact location of their shared boundary, causing war in 1998.

Even though this concluded in a truce in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors stayed at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrean President the president. The two signed a statement that the conflict was over – a action that gained the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then cooperators in the country's recent armed struggle in the northern region.

However relations have later worsened once more.