From Security Provider to a Security Risk?

The Abrupt Withdrawal of Ethiopia’s a Decade-Long Peacekeeping Mission in UNISFA

Abstract

This paper aims to offer an overview of a unique and decade-long Ethiopian peacekeeping deployment in Abyei, where Ethiopian contingents comprise almost the entire force, where the deployment ended in an ungraceful manner because of disapproval from the government of Sudan. The paper reveals that the Tigray conflict which resulted in the desertion of the Ethiopian peacekeepers and Egyptian pressure on Sudan because of the GERD have contributed to the withdrawal of Ethiopian peacekeepers and the Ethiopia–Sudan border dispute brought a dark shadow on their relations in addition to the disruption of the peacekeeping deployment. The paper concludes that unless Ethiopia makes a progress on internal stability and reboots its relations with its neighbours, Ethiopia’s role as a peace mediator and peacekeeper in the region becomes an ignominy.