While Ethiopia has a reputation as one of East Africa’s most vulnerable nations in recent years its rapid economic growth has helped turn it into one of the key players in the Horn of Africa.

Ethiopia is proud of its history as a country in which Christians and Muslims lived together peacefully and its culture of hospitality. However Ethiopia has been the most vulnerable country in the region and it is still recovering from the effects of a 17-year long civil war. The protracted civil conflict not only stifled economic development but also hindered the establishment of a system of good governance in the region.

Experiencing Rapid Economic Growth

Following the end of the civil war, Ethiopia has experienced rapid economic growth, registering an annual growth of over 10 percent between 2004 and 2009, according to the IMF, its economy was among the fastest growing in the world. Securing the continuance of this economic growth is of central importance to Ethiopia. According to its Foreign Policy and National Security White Paper, ‘Rapid [economic] development is not merely important in raising the standard of living of the people, but also a guarantee of national survival’.

Rapid economic growth also helps to promote peace and stability within in the country as well as the region as a whole. In its attempts to realise rapid economic development the Ethiopian government strives to address the problem at a grassroots level, moving towards sustainable growth and a more equal distribution of wealth.

Economic Security as a Foreign Policy Foundation 

For Ethiopia, economic security is key in its foreign policy approach to realising regional peace and stability, which it seeks to promote through mutual economic interdependence. Thus Ethiopia has made considerable efforts to increase regional infrastructure in cooperation with other East African countries.

Among other things, the Ethiopian Government has been working to find new markets for Ethiopian goods, attract foreign direct investment, promote tourism and facilitate an exchange of knowledge and technology. Examples of intergovernmental cooperation include large infrastructure projects such as the highway and electricity networks between Ethiopia and Sudan, and the railway and electricity lines connecting Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Working Towards Regional Security

At a political level, the Ethiopian government has also been working to establish positive relationships with neighbouring countries based on mutual economic benefit and trust. With the exception of Eritrea, Ethiopia has developed good diplomatic relations with most countries in the Horn of Africa region. By contrast the relationship with its neighbour Eritrea has been described as both one of the most important as well as volatile relations in the region. For a long time the two countries have felt the effects of a two-year-long border war which was brought to an end with the signing of the Algiers Peace Agreement in 2000. This being said the relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea has recently shown signs of a positive development. Since the animosity between the two countries has traditionally been closely tied to particular individuals, chances are good that with political and generational change taking place in both Ethiopia and Eritrea, a normalisation between these two ‘former brothers in arms’ may take place in the not so distant future.

Apart from working towards economic development and sustainable growth, Ethiopia has also assumed an active role in regional peacekeeping missions in the Horn of Africa. The country has a long history of involvement in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations, with its first major participation in a UN-authorised mission dating back as far as the 1950s. Having previously deployed troops under an independent, individual mandate in Somalia, Ethiopian forces officialy joined the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) for the first time in January 2014, making it the sixth African country to contribute to the mission.

Ethiopia’s Security Challenges

As an emerging economic giant in the East African region, Ethiopia also had to tackle new security challenges. In fact Ethiopia is at once both more secure and more vulnerable than at any previous point in its history. Security has improved in the sense that the country is not currently facing any conventional threats such as an attack on its territory by another hostile state. At the same time, however like so many other countries, Ethiopia is not immune to the global threat of terrorism.

Even though completely landlocked, the country’s geographical position renders it an important strategic link between the African continent and the Middle East. Located in the Horn of Africa, arguably one of Africa’s most unstable regions, there is a large threat from terrorist networks based in neighbouring countries, most notably Somalia. Thus the Somali terrorist network Al-Shabaab is said to pose a threat not only to Ethiopia but to East Africa as a whole. At the end of last year the detonation of a bomb in the capital Addis Abbaba, which killed two people, forcefully demonstrated that the threat of terrorism in Ethiopia continues.

Overall economic development and sustainable growth have formed the basis of Ethiopian foreign policy. Having newly emerged as a major force in the East African region, Ethiopia has to act quickly and respond effectively to evolving security threats; only then will it be able to continue to play a significant role in promoting regional peace and security.

Abebe Aynete is Head of the Peace and Security Department at the Ethiopian International Institute for Peace and Development (EIIPD).