Security Council to consider new Eritrea sanctions
UNITED NATIONS: The Security Council will begin Tuesday
discussing a draft resolution on imposing new sanctions on Eritrea for
what a UN report describes as destabilizing actions in East Africa.
Neighbor and long-time rival Ethiopia has sought reinforced
international sanctions since a UN panel in July said Eritrea was behind
a plot to stage bomb attacks on an African Union summit in Addis Ababa
in January.
The additional sanctions being considered included targeted measures
against investment in the country's mining industry as well as further
asset freezes and travel bans on the Eritrean leadership.
The United States threw its weight behind Ethiopia's call for new
sanctions in August after the UN group that monitors sanctions said
Eritrea was behind the bombing plot.
The UN experts also said Eritrea was arming and supporting insurgent
groups in Somalia, including the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab.
The Security Council imposed in December 2009 an arms embargo, travel
restrictions and asset freeze on top Eritrean political and military
leaders because of alleged support for the Islamist Shebab militants.
Eritrea has, however, accused its neighbor of staging a "frenzied
campaign" for sanctions and says any measures enforced by the UN would
hurt the Eritrean people most of all.
A six-nation East African regional group, the Inter-Government
Authority on Development, has called for sanctions against mining
interests and banning a government tax on remittances sent back by
Eritreans living abroad. AFP |