US Drops Eritrean Military, Ruling Party From Sanctions List

WASHINGTON – The United States has removed sanctions on Eritrea’s military, ruling party and several other Eritrean entities, a move that could open space for closer ties between Washington and Asmara as attention grows on security and shipping in the Red Sea.

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said on Friday that it had removed the Eritrean Defense Forces and the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) from its sanctions list after the expiry of a national emergency declared in 2021 over the humanitarian and human rights crisis in Ethiopia.

The Treasury also removed the Red Sea Trading Corporation, Hidri Trust and two Eritrean officials from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list.

The measures had been imposed during the war in northern Ethiopia, when Eritrean forces backed Ethiopian government troops in fighting against forces in the Tigray region. The Biden administration had accused Eritrean actors of contributing to the conflict and associated humanitarian crisis.

Reuters reported that the move could strengthen US-Eritrean ties, given Eritrea’s strategic position along the Red Sea, where renewed attention on maritime security has grown amid the wider conflict in the Middle East.

The development comes as the Red Sea remains a major international shipping route linking the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Eritrea’s coastline lies on the western side of the Red Sea, opposite Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel welcomed the decision, telling Reuters that the sanctions had caused significant damage to the country.

The removal of the sanctions does not necessarily mean that all US restrictions on Eritrea have been lifted. The Treasury action specifically concerns designations made under the 2021 Ethiopia-related emergency order.

The decision nevertheless marks a significant change in a sanctions framework that had targeted Eritrea’s military, ruling party and other entities during the Tigray conflict, at a time when Washington’s interests in the wider Horn of Africa and Red Sea region are under renewed scrutiny.

Source – Reuters