Ethiopian Peace Force to Abyei begins operation next week

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

July 22, 2011 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopian peace force (United Nations
Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA)) will officially begin a
peace keeping operations in the troubled North – South Sudan frontier
of Abyei region as of next week, said an Ethiopian government official on Friday.

“A first phase contingent of an Ethiopian peace force has been in a
weeklong overland journey to Abyei since July 7. Some of them have
already arrived at the region and the remaining will be there by the
end of this week,” Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ambassador
Dina Mufti told Sudan Tribune.

“I believe North and South Sudanese forces have already withdrawn from
Abyei by now and the Ethiopian force will officially launch its
peacekeeping operation as of next week,” he added.

According to Dina, Ethiopian army Chief General Samora Yenus is
currently in Khartoum and a welcoming ceremony is expected to be held
for the Ethiopian peace force by an administration withdrawn from both
Sudanese sides.

Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) took the control of the contested Abyei area last May and the region has been a subject to conflict, with fears that the dispute between North and South Sudan may escalate into a return to civil war.

Last month, The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously
authorized the deployment of 4,200 Ethiopian peacekeeping forces to
Abyei region after leaders from North and South Sudan – under the
broker of the African Union – signed an agreement in Addis Ababa to
fully demilitarize the central region and allow an Ethiopian
peacekeeping force to move in to monitor Abyei.

According to the UN resolution the Ethiopian force has the mission of
demilitarizing activities in and around Abyei and ensuring peace in
the region for at least the next six months. It will be engaged mainly
in protecting civilians, maintaining a buffer zone and also to create
peaceful environment that will allow conducting referendum on the
contested region of Abyei.

Ethiopia has in the past deployed troops for similar missions in South
Korea, Rwanda, Burundi, Liberia, and Democratic Republic Congo. It
currently has also over 2,400 troops deployed in Darfur.

South Sudan has officially become an independent state on 9 July 2011
after its citizens voted overwhelmingly to split from North. The vote
came as a result of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement which ended the civil war with
their civil war in 2005.

Another stipulation of the CPA was the
right of the citizens of Abyei to a referendum. This has not yet
happened. The area has been the site of conflict, with allegations
that North Sudan is repopulating Abyei with members of the
pro-Khartoum Misseriya ethnic group with a view to weighing a future
vote in their favour.

North and South Sudan still need to engage in post-independence
negotiations how to resolve other pending issues including oil revenue
sharing, demarcation of the border and referendum.

(ST)