Cabinet Moves to Rewrite the Defence Forces Law and Sends It to Parliament

The Council of Ministers has approved a draft amendment to Proclamation No. 1286/2015, the law governing Ethiopia's Defence Forces, and referred it to the House of Peoples' Representatives. Approval at the council's 59th regular session was unanimous.

The same session referred a draft National Data Governance Proclamation to parliament and took up a bill on the organisation, powers and functions of the federal executive bodies.

The week it lands in

A rewrite of the defence law is ordinary legislative housekeeping in a quiet week. This is not a quiet week. Qatar has publicly condemned a military action against Ethiopian federal forces and invoked the Pretoria agreement; Russia told outside actors on Saturday to stay out of Ethiopia's internal affairs. The state broadcaster spent the day publishing framing pieces on the defence forces as the guarantor of sovereignty and regional peace.

None of that establishes a link between the security situation and the amendment — bills of this kind are drafted over months. But parliament will debate it against that backdrop, and the provisions that get attention will be the ones that touch command, mobilisation and the boundary between federal and regional forces.

What business should watch

Defence legislation reaches the economy through procurement rules, reserve and call-up obligations on employees, and the legal basis for requisition. Firms with large workforces or logistics assets have a direct interest in what the amendment says about the last two, and none of it is public yet.

Open

The draft text has not been released, and the government has not said what the amendment changes or why it was brought now. No reading date has been set in the House.

Sources: Fana Television, 28 September 2026, Birr Metrics, 28 September 2026