More than 500 UN peacekeepers from Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region have refused to return home, citing fears for their safety and highlighting deepening ethnic fissures as they request political asylum in Sudan. Until last year, Ethiopian forces accounted for the vast majority of the around 4,000-member peacekeeping mission in Abyei (UNISFA), a disputed border region between Sudan and South Sudan. Most of the Ethiopian forces have returned home, but some have now requested asylum, a UN peacekeeping spokesperson told AFP in New York. A total of 528 Ethiopian soldiers from Tigray have requested asylum in Sudan, according to Major Gebre Kidane, a Tigrayan ex-peacekeeper -- a figure confirmed by two of his comrades also contacted by AFP. The Ethiopian government has not responded to AFP's calls for comment on the troops' request for asylum.

Source: Ethiopian News April 24, 2022 06:41 UTC