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Growing apprehensions exist regarding the possibility of military engagement among East African countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as confrontational language has escalated in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopia Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for access to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has provoked a heated verbal exchange.

PM Abiy Ahmed initially stated publicly in the previous year that his government's access to the sea was an crucial concern, statements that Eritrean authorities rejected.

Relations between the both governments have often been tense. Following a long-standing struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a 1,350km (840-mile) maritime frontage, legally broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, rendering it landlocked.

Five years later, a military clash broke out in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Government

Abiy and military leader the army commander have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and hinted at the desire to seize it militarily.

Recently, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "error" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "corrected soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be returned "through military action".

Eritrea's Reaction to the Threats

In the face of persistent challenges from Ethiopian officials, Asmara's position has been confined to short statements on social media from Communications Head Yemane G..

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea labeling it "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "irredentism" – a approach of claiming back lost territory.

The information ministry cautioned on mid-September that efforts to justify "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Movements on the Ground

So far, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the two countries.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has displayed training completions of many recruits at multiple army bases.

The head of staff section of the armed forces, General Hachalu, stated recently in an interview that the army was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of youths" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Historical Origins of the Dispute

For over fifty years from 1890, Eritrea was administered by colonial powers.

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

However in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor ended this system and Eritrea became totally absorbed into the Ethiopian state.

A extended civil war followed, ending with the government's loss in 1991. Independence was then approved by the population in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, causing hostilities in 1998.

Though this concluded in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries continued at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two endorsed a statement that the war was finished – a action that gained the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The both administrations were then cooperators in the country's previous internal conflict in Tigray.

However relations have later worsened anew.