NEW YORK (Halbeeg News) – The UN Security Council is expected to lift sanctions on Eritrea on Wednesday as the tiny nation’s relations thawed with Ethiopia and other neighboring countries.
The Security Council imposed an arms embargo and other tough sanctions on Eritrea for supplying weapons to Al-Shabab fighting Somali government and for refusing to resolve a border dispute with neighboring Djibouti, a key U.S. ally in the Horn of Africa.
Diplomats who spoke to Reuters said the 15-member council completed negotiations on Monday and agreed on a British-drafted resolution to remove the sanctions.
A resolution needs nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the United States, China, Russia, Britain or France. Diplomats said Wednesday’s vote was likely to be unanimous.
The draft resolution would immediately remove the arms embargo and targeted sanctions – a travel ban and asset freeze – imposed on Eritrea.
The move set off a number of diplomatic thaws, including one between Eritrea and Somalia.
Eritrea, a former Italian colony, gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war. It had a decades-long border dispute with Ethiopia, including a war from 1998-2000 in which about 80,000 people died.
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