Ethiopia Needs Grand Strategy to Guide Relations with Neighboring Countries: HPR Committee Chairman

Addis Ababa, June 24, 2026 (ENA)__Ethiopia needs a grand strategy that guides its relations with neighboring countries and analyze situations in advance, House of People's Representatives (HPR) Foreign Relations and Peace Affairs Standing Committee Chairman, Dima Negewo, said.

A national security conference hosted by the Ethiopian National Defense College was held in Addis Ababa today.

In his concluding remarks, the House Standing Committee Chairman said that the country requires a forward-looking approach to manage external pressures.

He stressed that Ethiopia’s engagement with neighboring states must be guided by a strategy capable of analyzing situations in advance rather than reacting after crises emerge.

Ethiopia therefore needs a security strategy centered on external challenges, taking into account the realities affecting its neighbors.

The strategy should predict and assess threats beforehand instead of simply following events as they develop, Dima added.

 

East African Affairs Advisor to the Prime Minister, Getachew Reda, for his part stressed that Ethiopia must strengthen its internal capacity to resist both domestic and foreign forces seeking to disrupt peace.

He said Ethiopia can bolster regional influence by increasing connectivity and shared development, calling for the expansion of development and infrastructure with neighboring countries in ways that protect national interests.

Commander-in-Chief of the Ethiopian Navy and a panelist, Vice Admiral Kindu Gezu, stated that regional dynamics are shifting faster than traditional planning cycles, requiring continuous reassessment of risks, identifying emerging patterns, and updating countermeasures accordingly.

Ethiopia’s security should be strengthened through threat analysis, particularly in relation to Somalia, advocating for a proactive approach, he added.

He noted Somalia’s evolving security landscape and the way terrorist groups have adjusted their operations.

 

In this respect, al-Shabaab has increasingly altered its tactics, exploiting gaps in surveillance, targeting areas with weaker governance, and leveraging changing local conditions to sustain influence and mobility, the panelist elaborated.

Hence, Vice Admiral Kindu concluded that "we need to follow a pragmatic approach that suits the emerging tactics of the terrorist group."