Eritrean military blacklisted by the US over conflict in Ethiopia

The United States has imposed sanctions on the Eritrean military and other Eritrea-based individuals and entities as it seeks to increase pressure on parties to the conflict to bring an end to fighting in northern Ethiopia.

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”.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said “Eritrea’s destabilizing presence in Ethiopia is prolonging the conflict, posing a significant obstacle to a cessation of hostilities, and threatening the integrity of the Ethiopian state,” He called for Eritrea to withdraw its forces from Ethiopia immediately.

Eritrean soldiers have repeatedly been accused of mass killings of civilians, kidnapping refugees and gang-rapes on military bases, according to Reuters reporting and international rights groups such as Human Rights Watch.