News Persecution fears leave hundreds of Ethiopian peacekeepers stranded in Sudan
December 7, 2024
Nearly 750 ethnic Tigrayan ex-soldiers who were deployed in Darfur and the contested Abiye region straddling the border between Sudan and South Sudan have been stranded in a refugee camp for years, fearing persecution if they were to return to their homes.
A total of 851 Tigrayan peacekeeping soldiers sought asylum in Sudan since the National Defense Force-led mission ended in July 2022, coinciding with the peak of the northern Ethiopia conflict. At the time, many opted to remain in Sudan rather than journey across the border into Ethiopia, where they feared they would be subject to arbitrary detention or worse.
A report published this week by Human Rights First Ethiopia, a domestic civil society organization, indicates that a few ethnic Tigrayan former peacekeepers who chose to return were imprisoned for up to three months in Awash Arba prison and Hurso military camp.
“At the time returning to Ethiopia felt like striding towards death. We just wanted to avoid all the things we might be forced to go through, so we requested asylum,” said a high ranking officer cited in the report.
Nonetheless, more than 100 have re-entered Ethiopia over the last couple of years through the Amhara and Benishangul-Gumuz regions, using their own financial means. One former peacekeeper was detained in Assosa before being sentenced to three years of imprisonment by a military tribunal, according to the report.
The remaining ex-peacekeepers, who currently reside in Sudan’s Gedaref province, say the fear of persecution, as well as the unstable conditions in Tigray, are keeping them from making their way back home. A lack of funds necessary for the journey is also part of the problem.
Meanwhile, the 102 ethnic Tigrayan ex-peacekeepers who are now in Ethiopia are struggling to obtain payment for their services from the Ministry of Defense.
A July 2019 resolution from the UN General Assembly states that peacekeepers should be paid a salary of USD 1,428. But payments are not wired directly to members of peacekeeping forces, rather going through the governments of their respective countries.
The Ethiopian government pays its peacekeepers 44, 47, or 50 percent of their gross salaries (denominated in Birr), with the payment range depending on military rank and other criteria.
At the time of their asylum requests, the ex-peacekeepers had completed their missions and were issued with certification by both the UN and the federal government. They had then appealed to UN officials to let them collect the income for their service.
However, they were told that the working arrangement was to deposit the money to the countries and for them to collect their money from the government.
The former peacekeepers who asked after their payment with the Defense Ministry say officials initially told them they would look into the matter before eventually refusing to pay them their salaries, according to the report.
Under normal circumstances, governments are required to pay peacekeepers within three months after they arrive home.
The local civil society organization report indicates that although the amounts differ as a result of the time served and percentage calculations, they range between 175,000 birr and 1.1 million birr.
The organization contends that the ex-peacekeepers’ rights have been abused and violated.
“Other Ethiopians who served in the peacekeeping operations have been paid their incomes while the non-payment to other former peacekeepers based on their ethnicity or because of the decision they took to ask asylum in host countries because of fears violates the principle of equality,” reads the document.
It also argues that the government has violated workers’ rights that decree that payment should be settled without discrimination for people who did equal work.
It asserts that citizens’ right to move freely within their country’s borders as well as the right to freely move outside the country and freely return to their home country has been violated.
Human Rights First Ethiopia has urged the federal government to facilitate the return of former peacekeepers still in Gedaref and pay them the salaries and benefits they are owed.
“The Ethiopian government should understand that the Tigray war, which was the cause of the ethnic Tigrayan former peacekeepers’ decision to ask for asylum, ended with the Pretoria peace agreement and that agreement was reached to return to constitutional structure,” argues the document.
It also implores the government to release ex-peacekeepers who were detained following their return to the country.