According to Tewolde Mulugeta of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
country's secret to preventing attacks is public involvement.
Over the past five years, Kenya,
Uganda, Djibouti and the self-declared republic of Somaliland have all been
attacked by Somalia-based Al-Shabab militants.
Ethiopia, which invaded Somalia
in 2006 to fight Al-Shabab, has since evaded a large-scale attack.
According to Tewolde Mulugeta of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country's secret to preventing attacks is public involvement.
“We know what lack of peace means, so the importance is well understood by our people," he said. "They don’t want anybody to distract that. Whenever they are going to come across any anti-peace element, any anti-peace force, terrorist force, they are going to expose them, they are going to fight them head on.”
According to Tewolde Mulugeta of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country's secret to preventing attacks is public involvement.
“We know what lack of peace means, so the importance is well understood by our people," he said. "They don’t want anybody to distract that. Whenever they are going to come across any anti-peace element, any anti-peace force, terrorist force, they are going to expose them, they are going to fight them head on.”
While it isn't clear how many
prospective attacks Ethiopian security forces have prevented, one bomb did
exploded inside a central Addis Ababa house in 2013. Police believe the
attackers were preparing it for a large football match taking place that day.
Strong security forces
Strong security forces
Although Ethiopia’s military is considered
among the strongest in the region, independent security expert Sunday
Okello says Ethiopian security forces are strong because Al-Shabab is just
one of several threats to the country.
“Ethiopia knows its threats to security, and you can't sleep and kind of forget that there is a threat coming from Eritrea, that there is a threat coming from Somalia, there is a threat coming from maybe South Sudan," he said. "And from that effect, Ethiopia has managed to build its security network very strongly.”
“Ethiopia knows its threats to security, and you can't sleep and kind of forget that there is a threat coming from Eritrea, that there is a threat coming from Somalia, there is a threat coming from maybe South Sudan," he said. "And from that effect, Ethiopia has managed to build its security network very strongly.”
Question about why neighboring
countries such as Kenya, however, remain unanswered.
Al-Shabab's highest profile attack —
the September 2013 slaughter of 67 civilians in Nairobi's Westgate shopping
mall — will be remembered this week, just months after an April
attack claim 148 students at Kenya's Garissa University.
One reason for al-Shabab's
frequently succesful attacks in Kenya is due to it's Kenyan
affliate, Al-Hijra.
“Besides this, the movement of the
Al-Shabab group, particularly in the coastal area, it is an open ground for
them to incubate and to organize their attack in Kenya," said Abebe
Muluneh, director of the Security Sector Program at the East African bloc IGAD.
"Apart from this, there is also high level of corruption with the security
institution there.”
Ethiopian forces continue to fight
al-Shabab in Somalia, working in conjunction with African Union troops. The AU
troops have made significant gains but the militant group remains one of the
biggest security threats to the East African region.
Source ( VOA)
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