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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Jul 14 2011 - 07:48:33 EDT
7/14/11 11:15 AM
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia Begins Deploying Troops to Disputed Abyei Region
Addis Ababa - The Ethiopian government has begun deploying its troops to
monitor the troubled North - South Sudan frontier of Abyei region, a
military official said on Wednesday.
The decision to deploy peace keepers to the volatile region was reached
after leaders from North and South Sudan - under the broker of the African
Union - signed an agreement last month in Addis Ababa to fully demilitarise
the central region and to allow an Ethiopian peacekeeping force to move in
to monitor Abyei.
Following the agreement, the UN Security Council (UNSC) days later approved
the deployment of a 4,200 strong Ethiopian peace keeping force to monitor
the withdrawal of troops from Abyei.
Speaking on state-run Ethiopian Television, Logistics Main Department Head
with the Ministry of National Defense, and Major General Gezahagn Abera on
Wednesday said that necessary logistics had been transported to Abyei on 8
July.
Abera said he is confident that the peacekeeping force will fulfil its
responsibilities to the satisfaction of all concerned parties, citing
previous missions in the Horn of Africa.
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.
According to the UN resolution the Ethiopian force has the mission of
demilitarising 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.
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