Armed and insecure

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while providing limited hardware, the US has been a major supporter of Ethiopia’s security apparatus, for example providing over USD 18 million in 2015 for a ‘Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund’. 448 Ethiopia’s security forces are both large and considered among the strongest on the African continent—in the words of one EU observer, “Ethiopian [troops] scare the hell out of everybody[...] because they deliver”. 449 With 135,000 ground troops, the country’s armed forces are “arguably outmatched only by Egypt, Algeria and South Africa. And these three countries spend far more on their militaries, both in per capita terms and in actual dollars, than Ethiopia.” 450 As of April 2016, Ethiopia was contributing over 8,000 soldiers to UN peace-keeping operations, making it the largest contributor in the world—only a bit less than China, Brazil, Egypt and South Africa combined. 451 Ethiopia also formally joined the AU mission in Somalia in 2014 with over 4,000 soldiers, after having troops accused of terrible violations in the military incursion years before—according to Amnesty International, purportedly including slaughtering Somali civilians “like goats”, slitting “throats, gouging out eyes and gang-raping women”. 452 In terms of conventional weaponry holdings, according to ‘The Military Balance 2010’ Ethiopia’s army had over 246 tanks, 450 reconnaissance and armoured personnel carriers, and over 460 units of artillery (including 50 multiple rocket launchers and over 400 towed artillery). 453 As regards small arms, the armed forces are reported to hold 1,095,000 firearms—the largest stock in the Horn of Africa—while police forces boast 105,000 guns. 454 Ethiopia’s air forces, with 3,000 staff, are well regarded but suffer from a need for maintenance and parts, which reportedly will begin to be provided by a Lithuanian company in 2016. 455 The air-force holdings included 42 combat capable aircraft, 20 attack and 30 support/utility helicopters. 456 448 Security Assistance Monitor, ‘Ethiopia 2010-2015’, www.securityassistance.org/data/program/military/Ethiopia/2010/2015/is_all/Global. There are also physical transfers that may not be covered by the major conventional arms database (SIPRI) or that for SALW (NISAT-PRIO). For instance, in 2012 the US showed almost USD 29 million in ‘Direct Commercial Sales’ to Ethiopia, the vast majority of which were 36 items under ‘Category VIII – Aircraft and Associated Equipment’, in addition to 272 items under ‘Category X – Military Equipment’. Those categories were also responsible for close on USD 4.5 million in support for 2014. The other category, ‘Foreign Military Sales’, accounted for almost USD 3 million between 2011 and 2014. See US Department of State, ‘Section 655 Annual Military Assistance Reports’, www.pmddtc.state.gov/reports/655_intro.html. 449 The Reporter, ‘Ethiopian National Defense Force - Efficiency for Less’, February 2016, http://allafrica.com/stories/201502100117.html. 450 War is Boring, ‘Ethiopia Spends Very Little Money on Its Military — And It Works’, March 2015, https://warisboring.com/ethiopia-spends-very-little-money-onits-military-and-it-works-1be0d725f8a9#.numz13k0b; International Institute for Strategic Studies, ‘The Military Balance 2010’. 451 UN, ‘Contributors to UN Peacekeeping Operations’, March 2016, www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/contributors/2016/mar16_1.pdf. 452 African Union Mission in Somalia, ‘Ethiopia – ENDF’, http://amisom-au.org/ethiopia-endf/; Amnesty International UK, ‘Somalia: Troops killing people ‘like goats’ by slitting throats-new Amnesty report’, May 2008, www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/ somalia-troops-killing-people-goats-slitting-throats-new-amnesty-report. 453 International Institute for Strategic Studies, ‘The Military Balance 2010’. 454 Small Arms Survey, ‘Trickle and Torrent: State stockpiles’, in ‘Small Arms Survey 2006: Unfinished Business’, www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/A- Yearbook/2006/en/Small-Arms-Survey-2006-Chapter-02-EN.pdf. 455 DefenceWeb, ‘Lithuanian company to help maintain Ethiopian Air Force aircraft’, http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=artic le&id=42820:lithuanian-company-to-help-maintain-ethiopian-air-force-aircraft&catid=35:Aerospace&Itemid=107. The same report notes the following aircraft as part of Ethiopia’s current holdings: “roughly a dozen MiG-21s, a dozen MiG-23s, eight Su-25s and a dozen Su-27s [...] Fixed wing transport aircraft include five C-130B/C-130E/L-100-30 Hercules, over half a dozen An-12s (one crashed in Mogadishu in August 2013), half a dozen C-47s, and a handful of An-32s, An-26s, Yak-40s, Twin Otters and Y-12s. Training is carried out by half a dozen L-39s and several SF-260s. The rotary wing component includes Mi-24/35 Hind, UH-1H (Ethiopian Army Aviation), SA-316 Alouette III, Mi-6, Mi-8/17, SA 330 Puma and Mi-14 helicopters.” 456 ‘Military Balance 2010’. 102 PAX ! Armed and insecure
In terms of spending, observers have noted that Addis Ababa spends surprisingly little yet remains militarily strong. 457 Indeed, Ethiopia’s military expenditure in 2015 was only 0.6 per cent of GDP, among the lowest proportions on the African continent, and has been 1 per cent or less since 2010. 458 As a proportion of government spending, Ethiopia reached 4 per cent in 2015, after a steady decrease from the peak of 44.3 per cent(!) in 1999, as its war with Eritrea raged. However, in addition to having a large proportion of soldiers ‘removed from payroll’ onto UN missions, Ethiopia’s earlier (high) military expenditures have created a significant baseline; its average military expenditure from 1998 to 2000 was more than 7.5 per cent of GDP. 459 Though its ability to produce weaponry domestically (see below) quenches some of Ethiopia’s thirst for arms imports, domestic production would be included in military spending. Still, it may be misleading to discount Ethiopia simply as a light spender on defence and security. Partially, it spends little today because it spent too much in the recent past; as shown by a detailed analysis of the nation’s budgeting for the military sector, “the high level of militarization of Ethiopian society and the huge expenditure on the military sector have been major factors in the economic underdevelopment of Ethiopia”—possibly partially offset by recent growth rates. 460 Arms Transfers Within the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia is one of two countries that can boast a military industry. 461 Organized in 2010 under the umbrella of Metals and Engineering Corporation (Metec), a public company, its larger factories focus on armed vehicles, purportedly being able to ‘manufacture’ 72-Ts tanks (though probably mostly repairing and modernising), also for external users, including the African Union’s AMISOM. 462 The repair and renewal of aircraft, and the production of ammunition (possibly up to 26 different types, including “tank shells, mortar bombs and grenades; and 120mm ‘Katyusha’ rockets”), are reported as capabilities as well, in addition to several “basic infantry weapons”. 463 A May 2016 report highlighted “the most sophisticated work known to have been carried out by the Ethiopian defence industry to date”, 457 War is Boring, ‘Ethiopia Spends Very Little Money on Its Military — And It Works’, March 2015, https://warisboring.com/ethiopia-spends-very-little-money-onits-military-and-it-works-1be0d725f8a9#.numz13k0b; The Reporter, ‘Ethiopian National Defense Force - Efficiency for Less’, February 2015, http://allafrica.com/ stories/201502100117.html. 458 SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/SIPRI-Milex-data-1988-2015.xlsx. 459 Ibid. 460 Adejumobi and Binega, ‘3.Ethiopia’, in: ‘Budgeting for the Military Sector in Africa’, 2013, http://books.sipri.org/files/books/SIPRI06OmHu/SIPRI06OmHu03.pdf. 461 The other is Sudan; Kenya and Uganda have small arms ammunition factories. SIPRI, ‘Arms transfers to East and Southern Africa’, December 2009, http:// books.sipri.org/files/misc/SIPRIBP0912.pdf. 462 METEC, ‘About us’, http://www.metec.gov.et/index.php/en/about-us. Examples include Gafat Armament Engineering Complex, Homicho Ammunition Engineering Complex, Bishoftu Motorization Engineering Complex and Dejen Aviation Engineering Complex. All are government-owned; some are also producing materials for civilian markets. See also: Ethiopian Herald, ‘Ethiopia: METEC – Centrepiece for Ethiopia’s Industrial Sector’, November 20115, http://allafrica.com/stories/201511191403.html. 463 Ethiopian Herald, ‘Ethiopia: METEC – Centrepiece for Ethiopia’s Industrial Sector’, Part II, November 2015, http://allafrica.com/stories/201511230591.html; 38 North, ‘Is Ethiopia Violating UN Sanctions against North Korea’, December 2014, http://38north.org/2014/12/aberger122314/; METEC, ‘Homicho Ammunition Engineering Industry (HAEI) – Fact Sheet’, www.metec.gov.et/images/PDF/Homicho%20Ammunition%20Engineering%20Industry.pdf; IHS Jane’s, ‘Ethiopia turns S-75 SAMs into self-propelled systems’, May 2016, http://www.janes.com/article/59987/ethiopia-turns-s-75-sams-into-self-propelled-systems. Weapons may include “the ET/97-1 and Gafat 01 in 7.62x39 mm calibre (presumably AKM-derived assault rifles), an unidentified 7.62x54mm machine gun (probably a PKM copy), the 35 mm ET04/01 automatic grenade launcher (possibly a copy of the Chinese QLZ87), and the 82 mm ET05/01 mortar”. PAX ! Armed and insecure 103
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Armed and insecure An overview of a
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Armed and insecure An overview of a
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MSF NISAT-PRIO OCHA OHCHR RECSA RPG
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Weapon Use 68 Military Spending and
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Agents of Political Conflict in Afr
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Saudi Arabia Map 2 Horn of Africa S
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unacceptable humanitarian harm caus
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corruption, Somalia ranks last in t
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A few lessons learned can be mentio
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1. Sudan Once the continent’s lar
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iggest perpetrator of this type of
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documented, a few of which will be
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The relentless bombing and constant
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107mm mortars, as well as reportedl
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weapon systems are Russia, China, U
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small arms and light weapons (SALW)
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ocket launchers are also promoted.
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which they deemed ineffective. 124
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Spotlight: Children killed and maim
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© Enough / Amanda Hsiao South Suda
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!Abyei South Sudan Juba The Sudanes
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“Hundreds of extra-judicial killi
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embargo on South Sudan. 161 In earl
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Page 108: © David Stanley Military equipment
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use of major weapons in Djibouti—
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the UN Firearms Protocol on small a
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conflict situations or homicides. 7
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For example, SIPRI has been unable
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weapons have been acquired is often
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To the governments of Horn of Afric
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Godebaldkwartier 74 3511 DZ Utrecht
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