The Donald Trump administration has lifted sanctions imposed on Eritrea’s ruling party and military over human rights and humanitarian concerns, the US Department of the Treasury announced.
According to a report by The Associated Press, the sanctions were imposed by the Biden administration in 2021 in connection with humanitarian and human rights concerns arising from the war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. The conflict, fought between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), resulted in mass casualties before it ended with an African Union-led peace agreement signed in Pretoria. During the war, Eritrean forces were accused of human rights violations after joining the fighting in support of Ethiopian government forces.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a Friday statement that sanctions against several Eritrean individuals, including Hagos Ghebrehiwet, a key financial official, had been removed. The state-owned Red Sea Trading Corporation was also among those previously sanctioned.
Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel welcomed the move by the Trump administration.
“In this respect, we welcome the gesture and remedial measures by the Trump Administration,” Gebremeskel told The Associated Press.
The delisting comes amid heightened concerns over security in the Red Sea. Recent Houthi advances in Yemen have increased threats to shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, while Eritrea’s southern coast and the port of Assab lie close to the strategic passage connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
