Ethiopian troops serving with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) received medals this week for their peacekeeping efforts, a recognition that carries particular irony given Ethiopia's recent history of internal conflict.
The medal ceremony in Juba honored Ethiopian soldiers who have been deployed to protect civilians and support the fragile peace process in South Sudan, a country that has struggled with civil war since gaining independence in 2011. Ethiopia has been one of the largest contributors of peacekeepers to the mission, with thousands of troops rotating through deployments over the past decade.
"Ethiopian peacekeepers have shown professionalism and dedication in challenging circumstances," said the UNMISS Force Commander during the ceremony. "Their service has made a real difference in protecting vulnerable communities."
What goes unmentioned in official statements is the uncomfortable parallel: while Ethiopian soldiers work to prevent violence in South Sudan, their own country only recently emerged from a devastating two-year conflict in the Tigray region that left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced.
The Tigray war, which ended with a peace agreement in November 2022, involved widespread atrocities, ethnic cleansing, and the use of starvation as a weapon. Ethiopian federal forces, along with allied Eritrean troops and regional militias, were accused of systematic human rights violations by international observers, including the United Nations.
"There's a deep contradiction here," noted Dr. Solomon Dersso, an Ethiopian political analyst based in Addis Ababa. "Ethiopian troops are being celebrated for peacekeeping abroad while their government was recently prosecuting a war at home that included many of the same atrocities peacekeepers are meant to prevent."
Yet this tension also reflects a broader truth about African peacekeeping and the principle of "African solutions to African problems." Ethiopia, despite its internal struggles, remains a major contributor to continental security efforts, with troops deployed not only in South Sudan but also in Somalia through the African Union mission there.
"No country is perfect," said Ambassador Lumumba Di-Aping, South Sudan's former chief peace negotiator. "What matters is that Ethiopian troops are here, doing difficult work under dangerous conditions. The people they protect don't care about Addis Ababa's politics. They care about whether someone will defend them from armed groups."
The Ethiopian soldiers receiving medals in Juba this week are individual professionals fulfilling a mandate, not policymakers responsible for decisions made in their nation's capital. Many come from regions across Ethiopia and joined the military for economic opportunity, not ideological commitment to any particular conflict.
Still, the optics remain awkward. Ethiopia markets itself as a continental leader, a nation that contributes to peace and stability beyond its borders. That narrative becomes harder to sustain when the country's recent history includes one of Africa's deadliest wars of the 21st century.
As Ethiopian peacekeepers pin UN medals to their uniforms in South Sudan, they represent both the promise and the paradox of African peacekeeping: nations emerging from their own traumas, attempting to prevent others from experiencing the same.
Whether that's hypocrisy or hope depends on who you ask. What's certain is that the civilians sheltering in UN protection sites across South Sudan are grateful for the soldiers standing guard, whatever contradictions they carry with them from home.
