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Growing worries are present regarding the potential of armed conflict between East African countries, Ethiopia and the Eritrean government, as hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in the last month.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

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

Ethiopian Prime Minister previously announced in last year that his nation's sea access was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrean authorities dismissed.

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

Five years later, a border war erupted in which more than 100,000 people were killed.

Current Remarks from Ethiopian Government

Abiy and army chief General Birhanu Jula have openly claimed control of Eritrean maritime facility of Assab – approximately 60 kilometers from the boundary - and suggested the wish to seize it militarily.

Recently, the Prime Minister said the country's "mistake" of losing access to the sea as a because of Eritrea secession would be "rectified in the future".

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

Eritrean Response to the Statements

In the face of continuous threats from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been restricted to short statements on social media from Information Minister the minister.

Officials have denied Ethiopia's push for sea access describing it as "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a policy of retaking previous domains.

The information ministry cautioned on recently that moves to justify "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Preparations on the Border

So far, there are little evidence of significant troop deployments in the boundary zones between the neighboring states.

Nevertheless, in the country, state television has displayed completion events of thousands of cadets at different defense facilities.

The leader of personnel division of the defense force, General Hachalu, recently said in an discussion that the army was in a "strong stance" as "numerous of young people" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our opponents".

Past Background of the Dispute

For decades from 1890, the territory was ruled by Italian rulers.

After Italy's defeat, it was then controlled by the UK forces before turning into a associated territory of the Ethiopian empire.

However in the early 1960s Emperor Haile Selassie I cancelled this arrangement and the region became completely integrated into Ethiopia.

A three-decade long internal conflict ensued, finishing with Ethiopia's defeat in the early 1990s. Autonomy was then endorsed by voters in a vote in 1993.

Briefly in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their common border, resulting in hostilities in 1998.

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

This situation improved in 2018, when the Prime Minister made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The two endorsed a declaration that the conflict was over – a decision that earned the Prime Minister the prestigious award.

The neighboring states were then allies in Ethiopia's previous armed struggle in the northern region.

But ties have later worsened once more.