Growing concerns exist about the potential of military engagement involving Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as hostile language has escalated in recent weeks.
Landlocked Ethiopia's requests for passage to the sea coast through Eritrea has sparked a fierce war of words.
PM Abiy Ahmed initially stated publicly in the previous year that his nation's access to the sea was an vital issue, remarks that Eritrea rejected.
Diplomatic connections between the both governments have frequently been strained. After a decades-long fight for sovereignty, Eritrea, which has a long sea border, legally broke away from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, leaving it cut off from the sea.
In 1998, a military clash started in which numerous people lost their lives.
Abiy and military leader Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have directly stated ownership of Eritrea's maritime facility of the port of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and suggested the wish to seize it militarily.
On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of losing entry to the sea as a due to Eritrea's separation would be "rectified in the future".
Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopian property" and would be restored "by force".
In the face of ongoing threats from Ethiopia, Asmara's position has been limited to brief comments on social media from Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.
He has rejected Ethiopian requests for sea access describing it as "dangerous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a approach of reclaiming previous domains.
The information ministry cautioned on 16 September that efforts to justify "blatant hostility" would have serious consequences for Ethiopia and its regional partners and is a "boundary that should not be crossed|violated|breached".
So far, there are few indications of significant troop deployments in the frontier regions between the both nations.
Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, state television has broadcast training completions of thousands of cadets at various military training camps.
The head of personnel division of the defense force, the officer, stated recently in an conversation that the military was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of recruits" were entering service, which he said was "a message to our adversaries".
For decades from 1890, the territory was governed by Italian rulers.
After the end of Italian rule, it was then managed by the UK forces before evolving into a federated part of Ethiopia.
However in the early 1960s the Ethiopian emperor ended this arrangement and the region became fully incorporated into the Ethiopian state.
A extended civil war ensued, concluding with military reversal in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by Eritreans in a plebiscite in 1993.
Temporarily in the 1990s, there were positive ties between the governments in Ethiopia's capital and Eritrea's capital, but they disagreed over the specific demarcation of their common border, resulting in hostilities in 1998.
Even though this finished in a ceasefire agreement in 2000, it was never fully implemented, and the two nations continued at in dispute.
This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made overtures to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two agreed to a statement that the conflict was concluded – a move that gained Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize.
The neighboring states were then cooperators in the country's recent armed struggle in the northern region.
But diplomatic connections have since broken down again.
Elena Hartwell is a multidisciplinary artist and educator passionate about fostering creative communities in London.