More than 500 UN peacekeepers from the Tigray region of Ethiopia refused to return, fearing for their safety, and asked for asylum in Sudan, highlighting deep ethnic divisions.
Until last year, Ethiopian forces represented the bulk of the 4,000-strong mission in the disputed Abyei region between Sudan and South Sudan. Ethiopian forces have been replaced by a multinational force in light of deteriorating relations between Addis Ababa and Khartoum amid a land dispute and a renaissance dam Ethiopia has built on the Blue Nile that Sudan fears will threaten its access to water. .
A spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping force told AFP in New York that most of the Ethiopian forces had returned, but some had asked for asylum.
The source explained that “a number of peacekeeping forces have decided not to return and are seeking international protection that the United Nations will protect in a safe place.” He continued: “The responsibility for granting them political asylum lies with the Sudanese authorities, who are assisted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in receiving these individuals.”
According to Major Gebre Kidani, a former peacekeeper from Tigray, 528 Ethiopian soldiers from Tigray applied for asylum in Sudan, and two of his comrades confirmed the figure to AFP.
Explaining his decision to apply for asylum in early March, the 40-year-old Kidani said in a telephone conversation with AFP while he was in Abyei: “Returning to Ethiopia is not safe and we want to be the voice of the Tigray people” in front of the international community and the Ethiopian government did not respond to inquiries AFP received comment regarding the soldiers’ asylum request.
