March 7, 2025
Borkena
Toronto – “In 2014 [2022], we were importing ammunition. Now we are self-reliant for AK-47, DShK, and artillery ammunition,” Ethiopia’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Wednesday when inaugurating the Hamicho Ammunition Engineering Industry, in the Oromia region of Ethiopia.
He was accompanied by Defense Chief of Staff, Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, and Oromia Regional State President Shimeles Abdissa.
The ammunition factory was completed in less than two years, according to the Ethiopian PM.
In addition to local consumption, he is making claims that Ethiopia has started exporting ammunition to other countries. “Only within the last three months alone, we have sold not less than 30 million dollars,” Abiy Ahmed said. He was speaking about it in a celebratory mood, as seen from the video footage state media aired.
He added, “The job of handing over a better Ethiopia to our children is taking shape in every sector in a beautiful way.” He also claims the changes in the defense industry are “promising.”
Abiy Ahmed has been in power since 2018. Ethiopia saw one of the most devastating wars in its history under his leadership. The war between his government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)-led Tigray regional government is estimated to have claimed the lives of more than one million people. Afar, Amhara, and Tigray regions of Ethiopia were devastated by the war. Regional governments reported hundreds of millions of birr worth of devastation in infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and roads, among other things.
The ammunition factory was reportedly started towards the end of the war. Then again, his government started a full-fledged war in the Amhara region in August 2023 under the pretext of a “law enforcement operation.” Initially, his government announced that the operation would only be a brief one. After a year and a half, the war is still underway. Human rights organizations reported extensive rights violations, including rape, extrajudicial killings, and drone strikes targeting civilians. Over six million students are out of school in the region due to the war, which is said to be as devastating as the Tigray war. The government started the war with a stated objective of “disarming Fano forces.”
Another war has been underway in the Oromia region for about six years now. The Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) – a group that is linked to kidnappings and massacre of civilians in the region- has been fighting an armed struggle. Recently, it made claims of significant military gains over government forces. As is the case in the Amhara region, extensive rights abuses—mostly targeting ethnic Amhara—have been reported in the region.
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