What is the state of the security sector in Ethiopia? This Global Facilitation Network (GFN) paper provides an overview of the security sector in Ethiopia. It argues that post-military Ethiopia has come a long way on the path to national reconstruction and transformation. With the growing favourable international environment of donor assistance and good will, the Ethiopian government has a rare opportunity to accelerate the pace of democratic transition.
Ethiopia is currently faced with a daunting challenge of transforming its political and economic systems for sustainable development. This follows decades of wasteful military dictatorship, civil war, border war with Somalia in the late 1970s and with Eritrea by the end of the 1990s. The government of Ethiopia has committed itself, if only ostensibly, to profound political and economic reforms. However, among many keen observers and supposed beneficiaries of these measures, there is a concern that, while the reforms are commendable, the results are taking too long to manifest. There is dissatisfaction with the current state of democratisation.
A survey of Ethiopia’s security sector reveals that:
- One of the major threats to internal security is armed ethnic violence. Since the civil war and the war with Eritrea, ethnic forces have not been effectively disarmed and reintegrated.
- Most of the current threat from outside the country has to do with anti-government ethnic militia groups using neighbouring countries (especially Somalia) as a base to launch attacks on Addis Ababa.
- With the ongoing programme of demobilisation following the war with Eritrea, the armed forces have been down-sized by 140,000. However, defence still accounts for 15 per cent of the annual budget.
- The defence budget for the years 1998, 1999 and 2000 are estimated at US$140m, US$432m, and US$457m respectively. Total military expenditure for the year 2000 is estimated at US$800m, which is about 12.6 per cent of the GDP. However, the army has embarked on downsizing since the end of the war with Eritrea in 2000.
- The Ethiopian military forces were transformed from former insurgent militias, and their former commanders are the current leaders of the EPRDF government coalition. The civil authority is therefore in firm control of the military. The only fear is that this relationship could snap in a post-EPRDF political dispensation, when the subordination of the military might become a serious concern.
Post-military Ethiopia has come a long way on the path to national reconstruction and transformation. Nevertheless, the current situation in the country calls for an extension of the reform to the security sector.
- While trying to lay the foundation for a sound economic and political transformation, the Ethiopian government and concerned donors need to look at the critical connection between security and development.
- The international community has the chance to apply pressures on the government to improve its human rights credentials and make the political system more transparent and participatory.
- The drought-induced famine has exacerbated the suffering of a population afflicted with the bitter experience of war and its associated miseries. Tired of war and government high-handedness, the people want to surmount the problem of food insecurity, poverty and unemployment.
