The United States announced on Friday that it would not renew sanctions imposed on Eritrea in 2021, targeting the army and ruling party in the Red Sea state bordering Ethiopia. The decision came after the national emergency declaration on which Washington had relied to impose and renew the measures annually expired.
The US Treasury Department said in a statement published on Friday that the national emergency declaration had expired, effectively lifting the sanctions linked to it. Washington imposed the measures in late 2021 on Eritrea’s ruling party and army, following allegations that its forces had committed abuses during the conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.
End of emergency lifts US sanctions
Responding to a question about the decision, the US State Department said: “The president decided not to renew the national emergency, in order to advance the regional interests of the United States.” The emergency covered northern Ethiopia because of the war fought between 2020 and 2022 and the humanitarian crisis that resulted from it.
The Tigray conflict killed at least 600,000 people. In November 2022, the Ethiopian government and Tigray People’s Liberation Front rebels signed a peace agreement that ended the fighting, although implementation of its provisions continued to receive mixed assessments.
Washington adjusts policy to current realities
A US State Department spokesperson told Agence France-Presse that implementation of the peace agreement had been “uneven” without question, adding: “It is time to adjust our foreign policy to current realities and work with both countries to advance the interests of the United States.”
The spokesperson’s remarks refer to Eritrea and Ethiopia as the two parties with which Washington seeks to co-operate at the current stage, after ending the emergency declaration that had provided the legal basis for maintaining the sanctions since they were imposed. The lifting of the sanctions comes as tensions rise in Tigray, amid fears that war could return to the region despite the peace agreement signed by the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front in 2022.
