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About 120 Ex-peacekeepers from Ethiopia Seek Asylum in Sudan, UN says

Agence France-Presse

   KHARTOUM, SUDAN - Around 120 former peacekeepers from Ethiopia, where
   several regions including northern Tigray arehard-hit by inter-ethnic
   conflict, have sought asylum in Sudan, the United Nations said Sunday.

   The personnel wereset tobe repatriatedas part ofthe phased withdrawal
   of the U.N.peacekeeping mission, UNAMID, from western Sudan's Darfur
   region after its mandate ended December 31.

   "As of now, 120 former UNAMID peacekeepers who were due to be
   repatriated have sought international protection," a U.N.peacekeeping
   spokesperson told AFP via email.

   The U.N.refugee agency, UNHCR, also confirmed the former peacekeepers
   have applied for asylum in Sudan.

   They "will be taken to a location where they can be safely undertaken
   for their refugee status to be determined," it said without
   elaborating,for"protection purposes."

   It was not immediately clear whether all the former peacekeepers
   seeking asylum originated from Ethiopia's Tigray region.

   The Tigray conflict broke out last November between Ethiopia's federal
   forces and leaders of the region's ruling party,killingthousands.

   The fighting sentabout60,000 refugees fleeing into neighboring Sudan, a
   nation struggling with economic woes and a rocky transition since the
   April 2019 ouster of strongman Omar al-Bashir.

   Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace
   Prize, is also grappling with ethnic violence in other
   regions,including Amhara, Oromia and Benishangul-Gumuz.

   UNAMID, deployed in Darfur since 2007, beganin January towithdraw its
   armed and civilian personnel,which number about 8,000. The endeavor
   isto be completed within six months.

   Darfur was the scene of a bitter conflict between ethnic African
   minority rebels, complaining of marginalization, against Bashir's
   Arab-dominated government in Khartoum.

   The fighting killed some 300,000 people and displaced 2.5 million,
   according to the U.N.

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