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
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