The United States has called for dialogue as Ethiopia-Eritrea tensions escalate, with the two East African neighbours once again described as perilously close to all-out war.
Their relationship has been strained by territorial disputes since Eritrea became independent from Ethiopia in 1993. The countries fought a bitter war between 1998 and 2000 and, despite a truce, remained technically at war for almost two decades.
A peace agreement reached in Jeddah in 2018 eased the confrontation, but longstanding tensions have continued to shape relations between the two countries.
Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of backing rebels in its Tigray region. Eritrea, meanwhile, alleges that landlocked Ethiopia is considering an attempt to seize one of its key ports on the Red Sea.
The competing accusations have renewed concern over the stability of the Horn of Africa, as calls grow for diplomacy to prevent the dispute from developing into a wider conflict.
Whether negotiations can resolve the deep-rooted differences was examined by political analyst Faisal Roble, Jervin Naidoo, a senior political analyst at Oxford Economics Africa, and Matt Bryden, a strategic adviser at Sahan, a think tank focused on governance, politics and security in the Horn of Africa.
