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Increasing worries are present regarding the possibility of military engagement between Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile discourse has ratcheted up in the past few weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Declared?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, calls for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrea has triggered a heated rhetorical conflict.

The Ethiopian leader initially stated publicly in last year that his government's access to the sea was an vital issue, comments that Eritrea dismissed.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have frequently been strained. Following a prolonged fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it cut off from the sea.

Subsequently, a military clash broke out in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopia's Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief the army commander have directly stated ownership of Eritrean coastal city of Assab – some 60 km from the border - and hinted at the wish to seize it militarily.

In early September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of losing access to the sea as a due to Eritrea secession would be "rectified in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "using武力".

Eritrean Reaction to the Claims

In the face of continuous warnings from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been restricted to concise remarks on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

He has rejected Ethiopia's demand for access to the Red Sea calling it "dangerous" and a "harmful plan" of "territorial claims" – a strategy of claiming back former lands.

Government spokespeople cautioned on recently that attempts to legitimise "obvious provocation" would have significant repercussions for the Ethiopian government and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Border

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

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, state television has shown completion events of numerous trainees at multiple army bases.

The director of personnel division of the military, General Hachalu, commented lately in an conversation that the army was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were joining it, which he said was "a warning to our enemies".

Historical Background of the Tension

For over fifty years from the late 19th century, the territory was administered by colonial powers.

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

Yet in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor terminated this system and Eritrea became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A extended internal conflict ensued, ending with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Sovereignty was then endorsed 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 fell out over the specific demarcation of their shared boundary, causing conflict in 1998.

Although this ended in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations stayed at in dispute.

This ended in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrea's leader the president. The two endorsed a announcement that the hostilities was finished – a decision that earned the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The neighboring states were then cooperators in the country's previous internal conflict in the northern region.

But ties have since broken down anew.