Eritrea's President Isaias Afeworki smiles upon his arrival at the
airport in Gondar, for a visit in Ethiopia, on November 9, 2018. UN
Security Council on November 14, 2018 voted unanimously to lift
sanctions on Eritrea, which were imposed nine years ago. PHOTO | EDUARDO
SOTERAS | AFP
The UN Security Council on Wednesday lifted sanctions on Eritrea
following a landmark peace deal with Ethiopia and a thaw with Djibouti
that have buoyed hopes for positive change in the Horn of Africa.
The
council unanimously adopted a British-drafted resolution lifting the
arms embargo, all travels bans, asset freezes and targeted sanctions
against Eritrea.
Eritrea and Ethiopia signed a peace
deal in July that ended two decades of hostility and led to friendlier
relations with Djibouti, shoring up prospects for stability in the Horn
of Africa.
The resolution calls on Eritrea and Djibouti
to continue efforts to settle a 2008 border dispute and asks Asmara to
release information concerning Djiboutian soldiers missing in clashes a
decade ago.
At France's request, the council will hear a
report every six months on Eritrea's efforts to normalize relations
with Djibouti, where France, the United States and China all have
military bases.
The council slapped sanctions on
Eritrea in 2009 for its alleged support of Al-Shabaab insurgents in
Somalia, a claim Asmara has long denied.
The resolution acknowledged that UN monitors have "not found
conclusive evidence that Eritrea supports Al-Shabaab" and declared that
the sanctions and arms embargo ended with the adoption of the measure.
Foreign investors
Ethiopian
Ambassador Taye Atske Selassie said the end of sanctions will
"definitely open up a lot of possibilities for Eritrea," drawing foreign
investors and bringing Asmara back into the international fold.
"The
decision will give an impetus for us to look to what the future can
offer to the people of the region while at the same time send a message
for us to engage in solving current problems and challenges," the
ambassador told AFP.
Eritrea and Somalia strongly
supported calls to end sanctions, and negotiations over the past two
weeks focused on addressing concerns about Djibouti.
"There
were concerns by Djibouti," the ambassador said, "but these concerns
are not insurmountable. We strongly believe that the leaders of these
two countries are willing to deal with the issues."
Human rights abuse
The
ambassador told reporters ahead of the vote that the lifting of
sanctions would help promote respect for human rights in Eritrea.
UN
officials have reported serious abuses by the Eritrean government that
have triggered a major exodus of Eritreans from their country.
"The
current developments will have, definitely, ripple effects in terms of
economic progress, prosperity as well as human rights," said the
Ethiopian ambassador.
In his address to the General
Assembly in September, Eritrea's Foreign Minister Osman Mohammed Saleh
slammed the sanctions as "unwarranted," saying they had caused
"considerable economic damage" and hardship for Eritreans.
Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, and war broke out later that decade over a border dispute.
A 2002 UN-backed boundary demarcation was meant to settle the dispute for good, but Ethiopia refused to abide by it.
A
turnaround began in June when Ethiopia announced it would hand back to
Eritrea disputed areas including the flashpoint town of Badme, where the
first shots of the border war were fired.
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