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Increasing concerns are present over the possibility of armed conflict involving East African countries, the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government, as aggressive rhetoric has escalated in recent weeks.

What Has Ethiopian Officials Said?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for passage to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory has sparked a heated verbal exchange.

Ethiopian Prime Minister initially stated publicly in 2023 that his country's sea access was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrea rejected.

Relations between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea, which has a long Red Sea coastline, officially seceded from Ethiopian rule in the early 1990s, making it without sea access.

Five years later, a military clash broke out in which numerous people died.

Recent Remarks from Ethiopian Leadership

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated sovereignty of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – some 60 km from the frontier - and suggested the desire to seize it militarily.

On 1 September, the Prime Minister said the country's "blunder" of being denied passage to the sea as a due to Eritrean independence would be "addressed soon".

Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, retired Gen Bacha Debele, said that the port was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be given back "through military action".

Eritrean Answer to the Claims

Amid ongoing challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's reaction has been restricted to concise remarks on online platforms from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The minister has dismissed Ethiopia's push for sea access labeling it "hazardous" and a "harmful plan" of "expansionism" – a approach of claiming back former lands.

Government spokespeople alerted on 16 September that moves to justify "obvious provocation" would have serious consequences for the Ethiopian government and its neighbors and is a "redline that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Region

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

Nonetheless, in the country, government media has displayed completion events of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.

The head of staff section of the armed forces, Lt Gen Hachalu Sheleme, commented lately in an interview that the army was in a "reliable position" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Background of the Tension

For more than half a century from 1890, Eritrea was administered by Italian rulers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British military before turning into a integrated region of the Ethiopian empire.

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

A extended internal conflict occurred, finishing with military reversal in 1991. Independence was then endorsed by the population in a vote in 1993.

For a few years in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the leadership in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they fell out over the precise positioning of their mutual frontier, resulting in war in 1998.

Although this ended in a peace deal in 2000, it was partially applied, and the both countries stayed at in dispute.

This changed in 2018, when Abiy made gestures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders agreed to a statement that the conflict was concluded – a action that gained the Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize.

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

Yet diplomatic connections have subsequently deteriorated anew.