The UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Eritrea on Wednesday because of aid that council members say the Horn of Africa country has given to Islamist insurgents in Somalia.
A resolution supported by 13 of the 15 council members slapped an embargo on arms imports and exports by Eritrea, as well as asset freezes and travel bans on individuals and firms to be designated by an existing sanctions committee. Those hit would include members of the country’s leadership, it said.
The US and other nations accuse Eritrea of supplying al Shabaab rebels with funds and arms as they fight to topple a fragile UN-backed transitional government in Somalia, a state that has been virtually lawless for 18 years. Eritrea has repeatedly denied the allegation.
Libya, which has no veto in the council, voted against the resolution, while veto-holder China abstained.
The resolution demanded that Eritrea “cease arming, training, and equipping armed groups and their members including al Shabaab, that aim to destabilize the region” and also resolve a border dispute with Djibouti.
It said “Eritrea’s actions undermining peace and reconciliation in Somalia as well as the dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea constitute a threat to peace and international security.”
It was the first time UN sanctions had been imposed on Eritrea, a partly Muslim, partly Christian state that won independence from Ethiopia in 1993.
The last country to suffer UN sanctions for the first time was Iran in December 2006.
Diplomats said Uganda, which has peacekeeping troops in Somalia that have been targeted by al Shabaab, drafted the resolution after the African Union (AU) called on the council in May to punish Eritrea over its role in Somalia.
But Eritrea charged that its true author was the US.
Eritrean UN Ambassador Araya Desta described the resolution as “shameful” and told reporters it was based “on fabricated lies, mainly concocted by the Ethiopian regime and the US administration.”
Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 2006 with tacit US backing to rout an Islamic courts movement from Mogadishu. It withdrew its troops earlier this year.
“We have never supported any insurgents or any opposition in Somalia,” Desta said. “We don’t want to take sides in Somalia. Somalis are our brothers.”
Libya opposed sanctions against any African country and believed the issue should have been postponed until after an AU summit next month, he said.
Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yesui (張業遂) said sanctions “should not replace diplomatic efforts to resolve disputes through dialogue and negotiations.”
But British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said Eritrea had merited sanctions for violating a UN arms ban on Somalia.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS