The Ministry of Defense of Ethiopia celebrates national defense forces day in the presence of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, defense chiefs and military officials from different countries.
Addressing the gathering in Adama City Oromia Region this morning, Prime Minister Abiy indicated that Ethiopia’s defense force has been a sources of threat to the enemies of the country, but a source of pride for Ethiopians.
“We should be proud of serving in the army, which has been a source of threat to the enemies of the country, but source of pride to the people of Ethiopia,” said Prime Minister Abiy, who is also Commander in Chief of Ethiopian Army.
He indicated that the reform the military has been going through for the past one year is bringing change to the institution for good, by addressing issues related to internal transparency of its activities and the like.
He further noted that modernizing the army more with technologies has also been underway and will continue in the dynamic world. Key changes have included building professionalism over political allegiances.
As part of professionalizing and modernizing the forces, he called upon Ethiopia’s youth interested in the military to contribute to modern institution building & technological excellence.
Ethiopian Army Chief of Staff, General Seare Mekonnen, on his part indicated that based on the request from different regions of the country and with the support of the people, the Army has been active in stabilizing the conflicts, which has been popping-up in some parts of the country.
General Seare, who also brought to the position as part of the reform, further indicated that the army has also been contributing its share to the strengthening of the peaceful and diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
For the past few weeks the army has been conducting different activities including panel discussions in different parts of the country as part of the national defense forces day, which is concluded today at Abebe Bikila Stadium in Adama.