[3] The Republican Guard was established in summer 2018, following an alleged assassination attempt by an explosion of a hand grenade in the middle of a crowd attending a speech in Addis Ababa of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on 23 June 2018.

[1] Alongside the June 2018 attack, the Office of Prime Minister linked the establishment of the Republican Guard to other disturbances occurred in Ethiopia.

The Republican Guard is its own independent branch within the ENDF and separate from the Ethiopian Ground Forces,[5] and answerable only to the Prime Minister.

The Republican Guard are armed with the Israeli-made Tavor Tar-21 and CAR 816 assault rifles, and long range snipers.

The Republican Guard also uses helicopters like the Mi-8 and Mi-17 as well as armored vehicles like the BRDM-2 and WZ-551 to protect the Prime minister and President of Ethiopia.