The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has agreed with the United Nations Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa to withdraw Ethiopian forces from the UN peacekeeping contingent located in the disputed Abyei area between Sudan and South Sudan. The Sudanese News Agency (SUNA) reported on Tuesday that "Maryam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, held a virtual meeting on Monday evening with the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa (...) where it was agreed to withdraw the Ethiopian component from the temporary security force in Abyei within the next three months at Sudan's request."
SUNA added that the Sudanese minister pledged to "facilitate the smooth exit of Ethiopian forces from Abyei and welcome other forces from contributing countries." The UN peacekeeping mission in Abyei (UNISFA) was established under a UN Security Council resolution in 2011, following South Sudan's independence from Sudan. A referendum was supposed to be conducted in the area to let its citizens decide which country they wanted to join, but disagreements between Khartoum and Juba over who was eligible to vote prevented the referendum from taking place in 2011.
According to the UNISFA website, the Ethiopian forces comprise 3,158 soldiers and seven police officers out of a total of 4,190 members, including civilians, military personnel, police, and volunteers. Relations between Khartoum and Addis Ababa are tense due to a dispute over the agricultural region of Fashqa, which both countries claim, and the Sudanese army has redeployed its forces there in November. Additionally, there is a dispute between Addis Ababa on one side and Cairo and Khartoum on the other regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam that Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the Nile.
