Ethiopian ex-peacekeepers from Tigray arrive in Sudan for asylum

Some 40 former peacekeepers from Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray province gathered in eastern Sudan on Sunday to seek shelter, According to an AFP correspondent,

More than 500 UN peacekeepers stationed in the disputed Abyei region between Sudan and South Sudan requested asylum in Khartoum last month, citing fears for their safety if they returned home.

Hundreds of Ethiopian peacekeepers requested asylum after their deployment in Abyei ended on Sunday, according to a Sudanese refugee commission spokesman.

“Arrivals of the asylum seekers will continue daily until they are all moved,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An AFP correspondent said the ex-peacekeepers who arrived on Sunday were taken to the Um Gargour refugee camp in eastern Sudan.

The Abyei region has been contested since South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011.

The United Nations established a peacekeeping mission that year and has since deployed some 4,000 mainly Ethiopian peacekeepers to the region.

Last month, Ethiopia’s defense ministry said the peacekeepers from Tigray refusing to return were victims of rebel “propaganda”.

But Tigrayan peacekeepers interviewed by AFP all said they were worried about their safety, with one senior officer saying that other returnees had been arrested or killed in Ethiopia.

The war in northern Ethiopia broke out in November 2020, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray in response to what he said were rebel attacks on army camps.

According to the UN, over 120 Tigrayan ex-peacekeepers stationed in Darfur sought shelter in Sudan last year.

Since the Tigray conflict broke out, Sudan has taken in tens of thousands of Ethiopian refugees.