BY YOHANES JEMANEH
Home to a huge population, growing economy, and big landmass in the Horn African region, Ethiopia has been undertaking various activities to ensure peace and security at home and abroad. The country is recognized for its contribution to restoring peace in war-torn countries by deploying peacekeeping missions. Moreover, it has been at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in the region.
It is to be recalled that Ethiopia has been leading the fight against Al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia by sending the most skilled and zealous troops. However, recently the terrorist group has attacked Ethiopia through the Somali region assuming that its defense forces are exhausted from controlling local conflicts. Conversely, the national defense force and the Somali regional state securities decimated the fanatic group.
In her latest press conference, Government Communication Service State Minister Selamawit Kassa said that the national defense forces and the Somali regional state special forces successfully evacuated the Al-Shabaab militants from the Ethiopian border. Currently, the joint forces are wiping out the remnants of the terrorist group from some specific areas.
She said that working in cooperation with Ethiopian security forces, neighboring Somalia’s Federal Forces also participated in detaining the militants who escaped from the border area. This operation has shown the strong commitment of the two nations to work together for mutual peace.
In a statement issued here yesterday, the National Security Council mentioned that the Somali Regional States demonstrated encouraging combat against the terrorist group through awakening, mobilizing the people to annihilate the enemy.
The federal government effectively responded by organizing a command post that incorporated members of the national defense forces. In this operation, 813 and 79 members of the terrorist group have been killed and detained respectively.
Security Expert Abebe Muluneh believed that the recent Al-Shabaab attack on Ethiopia was primarily intended to serve as propaganda against Ethiopia. The fighters were sent to Ethiopia by Al-Shabaab with the knowledge that they would never succeed or survive. The leaders of the group, however, spread this falsehood about attacking Ethiopia to recruit new youths.
The fight against Al-Shabaab can be resolved if the horn countries conduct a quick operation at the same time. Abebe believes Al-Shabab might be destroyed with a well-planned military operation. The military forces of Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, and Djibouti must be combined in order to carry out a massive operation at once, he suggested.
Al-Shabaab will keep trying to take over Somalia unless the horn states unite in a powerful military alliance and utterly crush it. As a show of might, the strikes on neighboring nations continue as well. But the new Somalia administration needs to be powerful in order to organize the coalition, Abebe told local media.
Accordingly, a lot remains to be done in order to ensure internal security by averting the concern about Al-Shabaab’s attack. It is important to deploy integrated security forces in order to enervate the terrorist group and cut its links with other enemies.
Lately, a peace and security discussion was held between Ethiopia and Somalia to ensure stability in Juba land and its environs bordering Ethiopia. During the discussion, Juba land region Deputy President Mahmoud Seid said that killing innocent Somalis has become the mundane activity of the terrorist Al-Shabaab. The group also cost Somalia by affecting its economic and social development. “We have to work for hand in glove to avert the terrorist militant’s ambition of advancing their attack to central Ethiopia.”
Al-Shabaab has been recruiting young citizens for carrying out terrorist attacks. It has been trying to enter Ethiopia through Moyale and Dolo that’s why the two governments are working together to thwart the terrorist element’s planned movement.
Ethiopia is also working with Somaliland to stand together on bilateral and regional peace and security activities. On August 3, Brigadier General Berhanu Bekele talked with leaders and military officials in Somaliland. He conferred with the Somaliland Deputy President, Chief of Staff, and Director of National Security. Brigadier General Berhanu expressed Ethiopia’s firm stance to cooperate with Somaliland for the peace and security of the two nations and the region in general.
Despite these efforts, Ethiopia needs an integrated border security strategy which is crucial for the Horn of Africa (HoA) to prevent potential problems as the region has become a hotbed of illegal activities. According to the Ethiopian Institute of Foreign Affairs Director-General Desalegn Ambaw (PhD), a coordinated and integrated border security and administration strategy is required between the countries in the HoA as they are facing internal instability and the proliferation of civil conflicts and terrorist attacks.
To him, East Africa, particularly HoA in which Ethiopia is located, is a region that is the most vulnerable to border security threats and complex problems. The region is a hotbed of terrorist attacks, cross-border religious and ethnic conflicts, and armed nongovernmental forces.
He further indicated that there is no coordinated and organized border security and administration strategy that can be mentioned in the HoA. The Director-General also stressed that Ethiopia as a country needs to develop a border security and administration strategy to solve the complex problems in the region and ensure its sovereignty and citizens’ security.
As to him, border security and administration is a process of increasing capacity in partnership by controlling potential activities like fighting terrorism, illegal border trades, and others between countries, especially neighboring ones by preserving the security of people living around borders.
He also mentioned that, in addition to an integrated border security strategy, Ethiopia needs to have a border security and Management Policy so as to tackle the complex challenges of the Horn of Africa region and to protect its citizens’ security and the country’s sovereignty.
He underscored the region is vulnerable to complex border insecurities including terrorism activities, intra-border religious and ethnic conflict, the existence of illegally armed militias, and other challenges. Besides, most of the borders between neighboring countries had not been delimited thus it resulted in border conflict and clashes.
In spite of the presence of such widespread challenges, there is no integrated and organized unilateral and bilateral border security and management system within the region. Therefore, the eastern African countries have to find a cooperation framework in which they contribute and work together to the peace and security of the region through planning, executing, and evaluating their cooperative efforts to resolve conflicts and potentially control terrorism.
In this regard, the leaders of the eastern African countries in general and the horn of African nations, in particular, must renew their commitment to stand together to fight terrorists like Al-Shabaab which is the enemy of the people of Somalia, and HoA countries.
The Ethiopian Herald August 9/2022
