US lifts Eritrea sanctions as Red Sea security gains urgency

The United States has lifted sanctions on Eritrea’s military, ruling party and several senior officials and state-linked entities, ending measures imposed during the war in northern Ethiopia.

The US Treasury Department confirmed that the national emergency declared by former President Joe Biden in September 2021 had expired. The emergency provided the legal basis for sanctions linked to the humanitarian and human rights crisis caused by the conflict.

Following its expiration, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control removed the Eritrean Defense Forces and the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, Eritrea’s ruling party, from its sanctions list.

The United States also removed sanctions on the Red Sea Trading Corporation, the Hidri Trust and Eritrean officials Hagos Ghebrehiwet and Abraha Kassa.

Washington imposed the measures after Eritrean forces entered Ethiopia’s Tigray region in support of the federal government during its war against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The conflict formally ended with a peace agreement signed in November 2022, although Eritrea was not a party to that agreement.

The Treasury Department did not publicly connect the decision to current security developments in the Red Sea. However, the timing comes as Washington is paying greater attention to the strategic waterway and the growing threats to international shipping.

Eritrea occupies an important position along the Red Sea. Its coastline faces Saudi Arabia and Yemen and includes the ports of Massawa and Assab. Assab is located near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world’s most important maritime passages.

The strait connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the wider Indian Ocean. Commercial vessels using the Suez Canal must pass through it. Attacks linked to the war in Yemen have disrupted shipping and forced some vessels to take longer and more expensive routes around southern Africa.

The removal of the sanctions could open the way for improved relations between Washington and Asmara after years of diplomatic tension. It may also give the United States more room to engage Eritrea on maritime security and regional developments.

However, the Treasury announcement described the action as a result of the expiration of the Ethiopia-related national emergency. It did not announce a new security agreement or confirm that negotiations over the Red Sea were underway.

The decision nevertheless marks a significant change in US policy toward Eritrea at a time when control of ports, shipping lanes and military access along the Red Sea has become increasingly important to regional and international powers.