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Increasing apprehensions are present regarding the possibility of armed conflict among East African neighbors, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as confrontational language has intensified in the last month.

What Did Ethiopian Officials Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, requests for access to the Red Sea through Eritrea has sparked a heated war of words.

PM Abiy Ahmed first openly declared in the previous year that his country's maritime access was an existential matter, comments that Eritrea ignored.

Relations between the two countries have regularly been difficult. Following a prolonged struggle for freedom, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive Red Sea coastline, formally separated from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it landlocked.

In 1998, a territorial conflict erupted in which more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

Current Statements from Ethiopian Leadership

Abiy and army chief the army commander have publicly asserted ownership of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the frontier - and hinted at the desire to take it by force.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said Ethiopia's "mistake" of being denied passage to the sea as a because of Eritrea's separation would be "corrected in the future".

Ethiopia's ambassador to neighboring Kenya, former General Bacha Debele, said that the port was "belonging to Ethiopia" and would be given back "by force".

Eritrea's Answer to the Claims

Despite persistent challenges from Ethiopia, Eritrea's response has been limited to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for sea access describing it as "dangerous" and a "toxic agenda" of "territorial claims" – a approach of reclaiming previous domains.

Government spokespeople cautioned on mid-September that attempts to validate "obvious provocation" would have major implications for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Security Activities on the Border

So far, there are no reports of significant troop deployments in the border areas between the both nations.

Nonetheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has broadcast training completions of numerous trainees at different defense facilities.

The director of human resources department of the defense force, General Hachalu, commented lately in an discussion that the army was in a "reliable position" as "numerous of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".

Historical Origins of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, the territory was ruled by colonial powers.

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

But in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I terminated this agreement and Eritrea became fully incorporated into Ethiopia.

A extended civil war followed, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Autonomy was then confirmed by Eritreans in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the exact location of their common border, causing hostilities in 1998.

Though this concluded in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was incompletely executed, and the neighbors continued at odds.

This ended in 2018, when the Prime Minister made overtures to Eritrea's leader the president. The both leaders endorsed a declaration that the conflict was finished – a action that won the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two governments were then allies in Ethiopia's recent internal conflict in the northern region.

Yet diplomatic connections have since broken down again.