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Increasing concerns have emerged over the possibility of military engagement involving Horn of Africa neighbors, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as confrontational discourse has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for passage to the maritime outlet through Eritrea has sparked a intense verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in 2023 that his government's maritime access was an crucial concern, remarks that Eritrea rejected.

Ties between the two countries have regularly been difficult. After a prolonged battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a long sea border, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, making it landlocked.

In 1998, a border war broke out in which over a hundred thousand people died.

Current Comments from Ethiopian Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and military leader the army commander have openly claimed ownership of Eritrean coastal city of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and hinted at the desire to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing access to the Red Sea as a result of Eritrean independence would be "corrected soon".

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

Eritrea's Reaction to the Threats

In the face of continuous warnings from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for maritime entry calling it "risky" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a policy of reclaiming previous domains.

Eritrean authorities alerted on 16 September that moves to legitimise "blatant hostility" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Activities on the Border

There have been few indications of major military movements in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, state television has displayed completion events of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The director of personnel division of the defense force, the officer, recently said in an discussion that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of young people" were joining it, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Previous Roots of the Dispute

For more than half a century from the late 19th century, Eritrea was ruled by colonial powers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then administered by the British administration before turning into a integrated region of Ethiopia.

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

A extended internal conflict occurred, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Autonomy was then approved by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they clashed over the exact location of their shared boundary, causing conflict in 1998.

Though this finished in a peace deal in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations remained at odds.

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made gestures to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a announcement that the hostilities was finished – a move that won the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's recent civil war in Tigray.

But relations have subsequently deteriorated once more.