EBC this week reported that there are over 741,000 refugees in Ethiopia while Barack Obama put that number at 800,000 in his speech at the United Nations annual conference in New York. The UNHCR states that Ethiopia hosts the largest number of refugees among African countries with it claiming the 5th position worldwide.
The fact that Europeans are fencing their borders, fending of refugees, declaring a refugee crisis and funding various states to control migration indicates that taking in refugees is an arduous task even for the richest nations in the world. There is also a negative perception associated with refugees.
Contrary to that trend, however, Ethiopia hosts a large amount of refugees by international standards from its unstable neighbors despite its status as a developing country. Somali, Eritrean, Sudanese and South Sudanese refugees are taken in and provided with health and education facilities along with temporary shelters. For instance, the Bambasi camp in western Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region that currently hosts 12,300 Sudanese refugees from Blue Nile State was designated as a model settlement for hosting refugees by the UNHCR almost immediately after opening in June 2012.
5,000 Eritreans flee their government’s persecution into Ethiopia monthly with the trend going on for years now. However, Ethiopia has at no time blocked its border to these refugees. It has rather made things easier for Eritreans to pursue their education in its educational institutions. Numerous Eritreans consider Ethiopia their home for all the right reasons. The same goes for Sudanese refugees.
Ethiopia’s close relation with its neighboring people is not only demonstrated through its treatment of refugees but also through its effort to build peace in those societies. Article 86 sub-article 6 of the constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia deals with exerting efforts to solve conflicts between countries peacefully. Such efforts range from round table negotiations to military peacekeeping missions based on international law.
Even before the ratification and enforcement of the latest Ethiopian constitution that has been voluntarily formulated by its nations, nationalities and peoples, Ethiopia has long participated in international peacekeeping missions. However, the constitution has set up a system for this participation and ensured that it is based on international statutes.
Subsequently, the Ethiopian defense force has carried out its peacekeeping responsibilities in various countries with utmost bravery and competence under the motto “ensuring national security through competent participation in regional, continental and international peacekeeping work.”
The participation in peacekeeping missions, however, became notable after the army’s accomplishment of its mission during the Rwandan genocide in a popular manner after the fall of the Derg regime. The Ethiopian army saw through an impartial peacekeeping work in the zones it was deployed in. The place is called “Changugu.” It was feared for hosting a large concentration of notorious people and terrorists.
The impartial activities of the Ethiopian army in that place won it the adoration of both the contending ethnic groups – Hutu and Tutsi. The fact that it managed to ensure peace with social affinity instead of force shocked various peace loving forces including the UN. Accordingly, the Rwandan people saw off the Ethiopian army brigade in tears as it was replaced by another Ethiopian brigade. The replacing brigade also concluded its mission earning great respect through impartial loyalty to all sides.
Another peacekeeping mission under the current government was in Burundi. Ethiopia was the deputy commander of the African Union mission in Burundi. The mission of the Ethiopian army in Burundi was to control the implementation of the cease fire agreement reached between warring sides, disarming, creating a suitable environment for reconstruction and restoring the political, social and economic status quo to pre-conflict conditions.
In addition to undertaking these responsibilities capably, the Ethiopian army earned the respect and love of the people and government of Burundi for its humanitarian activities. The army shared the troubles of the people of Burundi in the spirit of African brotherhood. Two of the army’s such conducts include the assistance it provided to children who lost their parents for HIV/AIDS and its support for people displaced by war. The Ethiopian army deployed in “Gitega”, a state that is host for a large number of displaced people fleeing the civil war, showed its African solidarity with the people by providing them with food worth 62 thousand birr deducted from its daily budget.
The peacekeeping mission that followed that of Burundi was in Liberia. The time spelt a difficult moment in the country that transpired because of the conflict between the government of Liberia and opposition forces.
The Ethiopian army was assigned for peacekeeping in the vast area called sector 4 that incorporates over six states. Despite the area being one feared by other peacekeeping forces for harboring a large amount of rebels, the UN made the decision with the army’s track record of quality and strength in peacekeeping along with close affinity to the people on the ground in mind.
The Ethiopian army proved its solidarity with the Liberian people by deducting its food budget to help out Liberians in need and by participating in road and bridge construction etc. Besides its participation in developmental endeavors, the army contributed a lot towards political election in that country.
In addition, Ethiopia was also selected in the peacekeeping mission in Western Sudan. The conflict between the Sudanese government and rebels in Darfur has reportedly claimed the lives of about 70 thousand people while upwards of 2.3 million people have been displaced.
The first round of the Ethiopian peacekeeping force was deployed to Darfur in 2008 with it still carrying out its mission in a brotherly manner. Two factors make the Darfur Ethiopian peacekeeping mission different from previous missions. The first factor is that the deployment is in neighboring country Sudan with which Ethiopia shares a long border, natural resources and similar ethnic groups and religions. The second factor is that the army has taken up transport, all rounded logistics, reconnaissance, air force and deep water drilling in addition to its previous roles in deploying ground forces and staff and military observers. These additional responsibilities are clear indicators of the acceptance and trust the army has won in conducting its peacekeeping mission under UNAMID.
In its deployment area, the army has provided the brotherly people of the Sudan with free medical services and protected internally displaced people (IDPs) from attacks by armed groups. In the largely desert area of Darfur, the Ethiopian peacekeeping mission dug water out to address water problems for the society and animals. It also deducted budget from its daily food expenses to help out those in need. The army has conducted other numerous social activities that have won it acceptance by the community and government officials alike.
The other noteworthy peacekeeping operation is that of Abiye where the Ethiopian peacekeeping force is unilaterally carrying out the task. Following the self-determination of South Sudan, the governments of the North and the South have not managed to agree over the oil rich region of Abiye.
After carefully analyzing the situation, the UN proposed for the deployment of a peacekeeping mission in Abiye. The 15 members of the UN Security Council then unanimously decided to deploy 4,200 Ethiopian peacekeeping forces to unilaterally take on the challenge. The astonishing thing about the decision was not just the unusual unanimous decision by the members of the Security Council but the fact that both sides of the conflict, the North and South Sudan, expressed their desire to have the Ethiopian peacekeeping force as the unilateral force in Abiye.
This situation was the first time in the history of the UN in which all three bodies involved, the Security Council, the North and South Sudan, decided to deploy a country as the unilateral peacekeeping force.
Yet another peacekeeping mission the Ethiopian army is participating in is the one in Somalia under the umbrella of AMISOM. Ethiopia received an invitation to join the African peacekeeping force in Somalia and strengthen the AMISOM mission in 2014.
The army is working on sustaining peace in the sectors it has been assigned to, destroying and annihilating terrorists based in Somalia in collaboration with other parts of the peacekeeping force and creating stable administrative structures along with the people. In line with the activities of other peacekeeping missions by the Ethiopian army, the force in Somalia has helped create conducive environment for the people to administer themselves and claim back ownership of the security structure. It has also trained, armed and organized the security forces of the Somali government to build their capacity. Beside the above mentioned activities, the Ethiopian peacekeeping forces has also worked hard to expand social services in the sectors it has been assigned to and created suitable conditions for emergency and humanitarian aid to reach the people.
As has been demonstrated by its intake of a large amount of refugees and its active participation in peacekeeping missions in African countries, Ethiopia is a country that strongly symbolizes African solidarity. Neighbors or not, Ethiopians have historically supported their African brothers in their times of despair. They are also proud to have gained support from them in their times of need.