Citizen Soldiers in Ethiopia: The Experience and Legal Frameworks of Reserve Force, Conscription and Militia System

Abstract

This paper aims to offer a historical overview, legal framework and analysis of the reserve force, conscription or compulsory military service, and militia systems in Ethiopia from the period of Emperor Haile Selassie to the present. Methodologically, it employs an empirical examination of literature and legal documents on the reserve force, conscription and the militia. There is an inadequacy of literature on the three major citizen soldier defence institutions in Ethiopia, and this paper is a partial attempt to fill the knowledge gap. The paper discusses the legal framework of the Emperor’s effort to create a reserve force named Territorial Amy, which more or less met its objective, even though the effort to start national military service failed. The military government’s vicious mobilisation of militia and heavy recruitment of the youth for national military service resulted from the extended civil war that ended with the liberation of Eritrea and the toppling of the government. Currently, the government is planning to start national military service; on the other hand, a nominal reserve force exists, and the mostly rural institution of the militia plays an important citizen soldier role.