The Future of Armed Conflict in Africa : What Cyber Attacks on Ethiopian Government Tells Us

Abstract

Africa’s reliance on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for development is growing exponentially. Due to very poor basic infrastructure and to close the large gap of unbanked adults on the continent, Africa has looked to digitization for solutions. Unfortunately this reliance on digital infrastructure opens new vulnerabilities and national defense weaknesses. Both state-sponsored actors and non-state actors are increasingly using cyber weapons to attack African states, the latest of such an attack being the attack on Ethiopian cyber infrastructure by seemingly Egyptian non-state actors over the grand renaissance dam dispute, yet most African states are unprepared for this change in tactics and means of international coercion. This article looks at the cyber attack on Ethiopian government and what it tells us about the future of armed conflict in Africa. And in doing so, it finds that there is increasing likelihood for cyber weapons to be used to achieve political and other conflict objectives in Africa, noting that projects or political and economic agendas like the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam that bring out strong nationalistic sentiments might see citizens take it upon themselves to be involved in the conflict through the use of cyber attacks.