The two neighbours have long had a volatile relationship – flip-flopping from being friends to enemies.
Eritrea officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993 – but later fought a deadly border war.
In fact, Abiy won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for ending the 20-year military stalemate with Eritrea that followed.
But friendly relations further forged during the Tigray war have given way to a war of words over the Red Sea.
This is because Ethiopia, the world’s most populous landlocked nation, lost its Red Sea ports when Eritrea got its independence – taking with it a 1,350km (840-mile) coastline
For Abiy this has become an existential crisis and he has been pushing for ownership of Eritrea’s southern port of Assab – about 60km from the border – and hinted at the desire to take it by force.
“The Red Sea and Ethiopia cannot remain separated forever,” Abiy said during a recent parliamentary address.
