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Increasing worries have emerged regarding the chance of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational rhetoric has intensified in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

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

PM Abiy Ahmed previously announced in 2023 that his government's access to the sea was an existential matter, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

Relations between the neighboring nations have often been tense. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a long Red Sea coastline, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it landlocked.

In 1998, a military clash broke out in which numerous people lost their lives.

Latest Statements from Ethiopia's Officials

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and suggested the wish to capture it through military means.

Recently, Abiy said the country's "error" of losing access to the sea as a because of Eritrean independence would be "addressed in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrea's Response to the Threats

In the face of continuous warnings from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been restricted to short statements on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for maritime entry labeling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a approach of claiming back former lands.

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

Security Preparations on the Ground

So far, there are few indications of major military movements in the boundary zones between the two countries.

However, in Ethiopia, government media has broadcast graduation ceremonies of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The head of staff section of the military, the officer, commented lately in an interview that the defense forces was in a "secure situation" as "tens of thousands of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Past Origins of the Dispute

For decades from the late 19th century, Eritrea was administered by Italian colonisers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then administered by the British military before evolving into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

But in 1962 the Ethiopian emperor cancelled this agreement and the region became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A thirty-year civil war ensued, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in 1991. Autonomy was then confirmed by voters in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their shared boundary, causing war in 1998.

Even though this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the both countries continued at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President President Isaias. The both leaders signed a announcement that the hostilities was finished – a action that earned the Prime Minister the international recognition.

The both administrations were then cooperators in Ethiopia's recent civil war in Tigray.

However ties have since broken down once more.