US lifts sanctions targeting Eritrea’s ruling party and the military
The move follows the expiry of a 2021 national emergency and could ease pressure on Eritrea as Red Sea security concerns rise.
- On Friday, President Donald Trump's administration lifted sanctions on the Eritrean Defense Forces and other entities, aiming to strengthen ties with the African nation given its strategic Red Sea location.
- President Joe Biden's administration previously imposed these sanctions in 2021 against the Eritrean ruling party and military for their role in Ethiopia's Tigray war, which The African Union estimates killed up to 600,000 people.
- Eritrea holds more than 1,000km of Red Sea coastline and sits approximately 20 nautical miles from Yemen, providing significant leverage amid the expanding war in the Middle East.
- Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh has accused the UAE of pursuing "port imperialism" across Africa, while Eritrea supports the Sudanese Armed Forces alongside Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.
- Renewed focus on the Red Sea drives this policy shift, as Eritrea's coastline remains directly opposite Saudi Arabia, helping the administration manage regional security challenges near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
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66 Articles
Washington is approaching Asmara by allowing the state of national emergency decreed on northern Ethiopia to expire. A strategic but controversial decision, as the Tigray returns to violence.
There is a crystalline strategic calculation behind Trump's decision to lift sanctions against Eritrea: the oil routes pass through the Red Sea, threatened by Houthi, and the Eritrean port of Assab becomes a crucial geopolitical lever to control Bab el-Mandeb and guarantee freedom of navigation. Meanwhile, the Israeli recognition of Somaliland triggers a political earthquake in Somalia; fragmentation as a strategy
The United States of America has lifted sanctions on the ruling party and the Eritrean army, which were introduced in 2021 by the administration of former President Joseph Biden, the US Treasury announced.
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