United Nations headquarters

Ethiopia and the UN have agreed to further boost strong peacekeeping ties,
the Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Accorfing to a statement from the ministry, the agreement was made during discussions between the UN Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix and Deputy Minister, Hirut Zemene.

Lacroix praised Ethiopia’s six decades old peacekeeping contribution to the world starting from the Korean
war of 1950 to 1953 to present day peacekeeping operations particularly in the Horn of Africa region in
troubled nations like Somalia.

Zemene on her part called on UN and partner nations to give sufficient assistance to peacekeeping operations
in which Ethiopian soldiers are participating.

Ethiopia is currently the largest peacekeeping contributing nation in Africa and is among top four peacekeeping
forces contributing nations globally.

These include the UN Hybrid Mission in Darfur, UN Mission in Liberia, UN Mission in the
Republic of South Sudan, the African Union Mission in Somalia and UN Operations in Cote d’Ivoire.

The East African nation is also providing all the 4,400 troops deployed in the disputed Abyei region, between Sudan and South Sudan.

(Xinhua/NAN)