Over the past five years, Kenya, Uganda, Djibouti and the self-declared republic of Somaliland have all been attacked by Somalia-based Al-Shabab militants.  Ethiopia, which invaded Somalia in 2006 to fight Al-Shabab, has since evaded a large-scale attack.
 
According to Tewolde Mulugeta of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country's secret to preventing attacks is public involvement.  “We know what lack of peace means, so the importance is well understood by our people," he said. "They don’t want anybody to distract that. Whenever they are going to come across any anti-peace element, any anti-peace force, terrorist force, they are going to expose them, they are going to fight them head on.”

While it isn't clear how many prospective attacks Ethiopian security forces have prevented, one bomb did exploded inside a central Addis Ababa house in 2013. Police believe the attackers were preparing it for a large football match taking place that day.

Read more: Voice of America