Ethiopia’s Regional Security Challenges: An Appraisal

Abstract

A combination of internal and external security challenges seems to have constrained the pursuant of Ethiopia’s national interests. The external dimension mainly the regional one claimed to have featured prominence in this regard. This paper attempted to assess Ethiopia’s regional security challenges. Legal and institutional first-hand as well as secondary data were amassed from relevant data sources and analyzed qualitatively based on themes. The analysis of the data obtained from various sources suggested that regional conflict dynamics; hydro-hegemony, the quest for access to the sea; weak regional institution; and threats such as terrorism, piracy and militarization of the region appeared to have challenged the security of the Ethiopian state. Strengthening regional peace building capacity, and regional economic cooperation through enhancing intra-regional trade, investment, and connectivity are important measures that need to be taken to address the security challenges posed.