Ethiopian blue helmets from Tigray who refused to return to Ethiopia after their UN mission are victims of the "
propaganda
" and "
lies
" of the Tigrayan rebels, in conflict for 17 months with Addis Ababa, says the Ethiopian Ministry of Defense.
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Saying in particular that they feared for their safety, more than 500 peacekeepers from Tigray, a region in northern Ethiopia, refused, at the end of their assignment, to leave Abyei, a disputed area between South Sudan and Sudan, and requested political asylum in Khartoum.
The rebels of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) "
poured out their propaganda to incite Tigrayan (soldiers) not to return to their country
", by "
spreading the lie that they would be imprisoned if they returned
" and by persuading them "
to defect
", explains the Ministry of Defense in a press release received on Wednesday by AFP.
“
Some (Tigerian) soldiers frightened by the destructive actions
” of the TPLF, “
and not out of hatred for their country or institutions, remained in the countries where they were assigned for peacekeeping operations
”, continues the ministry, recalling that before those in Abyei, "
a few
" Tigrayan blue helmets based in Darfur had already refused to return.
On the other hand, the ministry "
wishes to present its warmest thanks to the Tigrayan members of our army who returned to their country after completing their mission, despite having endured all these pressures
".
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“A regime that massacres our people”
Interviewed by AFP, several of the Tigrayan peacekeepers who remained in Abyei recently expressed fear for their safety if they returned to Ethiopia, saying that soldiers from Tigray had been arrested or killed there.
Since the beginning of the conflict in Tigray, an unknown number of Tigrayan officers have been arrested, accused of collusion with the TPLF and there have been reports of arbitrary arrests of Tigrayan civilians, particularly in Addis Ababa, or the closure of businesses and businesses belonging to them.
In a press release sent to AFP on Wednesday evening, the peacekeepers who remained in Abyei - who say they are 528 - again explain their decision.
“
First to oppose the “siege” of our region (...) which is killing our people by starving them,
because the Ethiopian authorities "
want to arrest and kill us
", but also "
because we no longer want to continue working for a regime that massacres our people
", they say.
The federal government has been confronting the TPLF since November 2020, the party which de facto governed Ethiopia for nearly 30 years until current Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018.
After a successful initial offensive, the Federal Army was pushed back by the TPLF out of Tigray.
The six million inhabitants of the region (i.e. 6% of the Ethiopian population) have been deprived of basic services for several months (electricity, fuel, telecommunications, banks, etc.) and humanitarian aid only enters drop by drop.