US Lifts Sanctions on Eritrea, Citing Red Sea Strategic Interests

The United States lifted sanctions on Eritrea on September 19, ending a Biden-era set of penalties targeting the country's ruling party, military, and key economic entities. The State Department said President Trump chose not to renew the 2021 declaration of national emergency, allowing the restrictions to expire.

The Treasury Department announced that sanctions on four targets had been lifted: the People's Front for Democracy and Justice, Eritrea's ruling party; the Eritrean military; the Red Sea Trading Corporation, which controls much of the country's external trade; and Hagos Ghebrehiwet, a senior economic advisor to President Isaias Afwerki.

Washington cited its regional interests. Eritrea sits on the southern Red Sea, directly across from Yemen. The region has come under growing pressure as Houthi forces completed their takeover of Yemen's Red Sea coast, tightening their grip on the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

The sanctions were first imposed in November 2021 after Eritrean troops entered Ethiopia's Tigray region during a civil war the African Union estimates killed up to 600,000 people. Eritrean forces were accused of committing atrocities alongside the Ethiopian federal army. The war ended with a peace deal in late 2022, but the sanctions were renewed annually until now.

Eritrea welcomed the decision, saying the restrictions had caused incalculable damage. The government had previously accused the UAE of port imperialism across Africa, rejecting DP World's proposals to manage its ports and a 2016 UAE request for a military base on an island in the Dahlak Archipelago.