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Mounting apprehensions are present about the potential of warfare involving Horn of Africa countries, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as aggressive rhetoric has escalated in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Landlocked Ethiopia's demands for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has sparked a intense rhetorical conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in the previous year that his country's access to the sea was an vital issue, comments that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Diplomatic connections between the both governments have frequently been strained. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving it without sea access.

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

Recent Comments from Ethiopia's Officials

Abiy and army chief the army commander have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrean southern port of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and implied the wish to seize it militarily.

In early September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing entry to the sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "corrected tomorrow".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be restored "through military action".

Eritrean Reaction to the Threats

Despite persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been restricted to brief comments on social media from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's demand for maritime entry calling it "risky" and a "toxic agenda" of "expansionism" – a approach of claiming back lost territory.

Government spokespeople warned on mid-September that moves to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Preparations on the Ground

Currently, there are no reports of large-scale army activities in the frontier regions between the neighboring states.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, government media has shown graduation ceremonies of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of staff section of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, stated recently in an conversation that the army was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were enlisting, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Previous Roots of the Dispute

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, the territory was ruled by Italian rulers.

Following World War II, it was then controlled by the British military before turning into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this system and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.

A extended internal conflict occurred, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Independence was then confirmed by the population in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, resulting in war in 1998.

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

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders agreed to a declaration that the war was over – a move that earned Abiy the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in Ethiopia's recent armed struggle in Tigray.

But diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated anew.