Information Security Is Indispensable to Ethiopia’s National Security
A truly free press plays an important role in all countries that practice national models of democracy, but its members must also behave responsibly too and shouldn’t exploit their profession as a cover for anti-state activity. This part of Ethiopia’s slow but steady path towards a new “social contract” is among its most consequential, hence why the details thereof should be agreed upon through a candid dialogue between the media, society, and the state.
47 people were just arrested in connection with last week’s assassination of Girma Yeshitila, who was the ruling Prosperity Party’s leader of Ethiopia’s Amhara Region and a member of its Executive Committee. This high-profile killing followed the controversy over Prime Minister (PM) Abiy Ahmed’s decision to reorganize regional special forces, which some Amhara were vehemently against. It’s accordingly suspected that radical elements among them were responsible for this terrorist attack.
Extremists had unsuccessfully sought to seize control of this region back in summer 2019 after the assassination of its regional president and the Chief of General Staff, which shows that there’s a precedent for what just happened. Ethiopia avoided being destabilized then and now because these two incidents were unpopular coup attempts that didn’t enjoy popular support. Nevertheless, they prove that terrorism remains a problem that can reappear anywhere at any time.
The larger context within which those assassinations and the latest war with the TPLF have unfolded concern the domestic opposition to PM Abiy’s far-reaching reform agenda, which can be summarized as his multistep efforts to reach a new “social contract” that’ll sustainably stabilize Ethiopia. He inherited a mess of administrative borders that the then-ruling TPLF drew for self-interested divide-and-rule purposes, which continually sparked local conflicts that they then exploited to retain power.
It’s impossible to bring lasting prosperity to each of Ethiopia’s many diverse peoples without first resolving these extremely sensitive problems, but that in turn requires politically difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions such as negotiating with armed groups like the “Oromo Liberation Army”. In pursuit of what he and his team sincerely believe to be the greater good, they’re not going to please everyone, though they expect that dissidents will remain peaceful and not engage in terrorism.
Therein lies the problem since certain forces are inclined to take radical action instead of expressing their opposition to whatever policy it may be via the established political processes. Even worse, some of them resort to identity-centric demagoguery to justify anti-state activities like last week’s terrorist attack, which further exacerbates divisions within the country. The security situation is made even more complex by some members of the diaspora fanning tensions with inflammatory rhetoric on social media.
The authorities are thus placed in the dilemma of either letting everything fester out of fear that decisive action could be exploited to advance these same divide-and-rule narratives or risking the latter scenario in the interests of immediately ensuring national security. The recent experience of the TPLF’s rebellion informed decisionmakers that it’s better to act as soon as possible to preemptively thwart latent threats, though some still believe that these law enforcement efforts are too heavy-handed at times.
A perfect balance between national security and people’s rights will never be struck so it should be taken for granted that either decision for resolving this dilemma will be met with criticism from someone. All things considered and keeping in mind the country’s recent history, the path that the authorities have taken in preemptively thwarting latent threats is arguably the most responsible of the two, even if the case can compellingly be made that it could be implemented a bit more effectively going forward.
For instance, some average members of society struggle to understand why media professionals have been detained, which is due to the state not having articulated the role that these people have allegedly played in fanning particular narratives that risk unraveling the country’s unity. As in all countries, but especially those that are either presently engaged in a domestic conflict or freshly emerging from one, there’s a fine line between journalism and provocation that bonafide professionals mustn’t ever cross.
Some people might have deliberately done so and thus deserve to be punished, while others might only have innocently crossed those same lines, the fault of which might then partially be with the state for not having briefed them on what is and isn’t acceptable in the current context. A truly free press plays an important role in all countries that practice national models of democracy, but its members must also behave responsibly too and shouldn’t exploit their profession as a cover for anti-state activity.
This part of Ethiopia’s slow but steady path towards a new “social contract” is among its most consequential, hence why the details thereof should be agreed upon through a candid dialogue between the media, society, and the state. That said, now might not be the best time to do so, though it’s ultimately up to Ethiopians themselves to decide whether that’s the case. Nevertheless, there’s also no denying that inflammatory narratives preconditioned some people to support the latest terrorist attack.
Striking the fairest and most realistic balance possible between national security and people’s rights will go a long way towards ensuring Ethiopia’s information security, which will in turn strengthen its national model of democracy by facilitating the new “social contract” that PM Abiy wants to reach. Last week’s assassination can therefore present an unexpected chance to make meaningful progress on this front, but only if there’s the will from all sides to do so.
Either way, this issue will have to be resolved in order to prepare the population for participating in discussions about Ethiopia’s new “social contract”. The timing is subject to debate but the need for this to happen isn’t, as the failure to do so could inadvertently result in perpetuating confusion among average folks about PM Abiy’s vision. That could make some people susceptible to being misled by demagogic narratives for divide-and-rule purposes and thus risk plunging the country back into conflict.
