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US says presence of Eritrean forces in Ethiopia ‘an impediment’ to ending conflict and increasing humanitarian access.
The United States has sanctioned the Eritrean military and the country’s ruling party for “contributing to the crisis and conflict” in Ethiopia, which has displaced more than 2.5 million people and killed thousands.
In a statement on Friday, the US Treasury Department said it was sanctioning the Eritrean Defence Forces and the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, as well as other individuals and entities.
The Eritrean military’s presence in Ethiopia, the department said, “is an impediment to ending the ongoing fighting and increasing humanitarian access”.
“We condemn the continued role played by Eritrean actors who are contributing to the violence in northern Ethiopia, which has undermined the stability and integrity of the state and resulted in a humanitarian disaster,” Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control Andrea M Gacki said in the statement.
The sanctions come just days after United Nations political chief Rosemary DiCarlo warned that Ethiopia risks “descending into widening civil war”.
The Ethiopian government’s conflict with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) began a year ago and has accelerated in recent days, with a nationwide state of emergency declared this month and residents of the capital, Addis Ababa, told to be ready to take up arms to defend residential areas.
Thousands have been killed and more than two million have fled their homes since last November, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military offensive against the TPLF, which had long run Tigray and was a main player in Ethiopia’s national politics.
Hundreds of thousands are also facing famine-like conditions, according to the UN, and the fighting has spread from Tigray into the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions.
Eritrea in April acknowledged for the first time that its forces were taking part in the war in Tigray and promised to pull them out in the face of mounting international pressure.
For months, the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments had denied Eritreans were involved, contradicting testimony from residents, rights groups, aid workers, diplomats and even some Ethiopian civilian and military officials.
In August, the US sanctioned General Filipos Woldeyohannes, the chief of staff of the Eritrean Defence Forces, for “serious human rights abuse” by his forces in Tigray. The US at that time urged the Eritrean military “to immediately and permanently withdraw its forces” from Ethiopia.
On Friday, US sanctions were issued against the economic adviser of the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) and the head of the Eritrean national security office.
Hidri Trust, which the US Treasury said is the holding company of all the business enterprises of the PFDJ, and the Red Sea Trading Corporation, which manages its property and financial interests, were also sanctioned.
“I am very concerned about the potential for Ethiopia to implode, given what we’re seeing both in Tigray but also, as we have different forces and different ethnic groups that are increasingly at odds,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a news conference.
“And we are working very closely to support the efforts of the former Nigerian President [Olusegun] Obasanjo to mediate a way forward with all the Ethiopian parties,” Blinken told reporters.
Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Ghebremeskel, Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu and Abiy’s spokesperson Billene Seyoum did not immediately respond to requests for comment by the Reuters news agency.