Turkey welcomes lifting of UN sanctions on Eritrea

By Tugcenur Yilmaz

ANKARA

Turkey on Friday welcomed a UN Security Council decision to lift sanctions on Eritrea.

“We hope this decision will contribute to the efforts towards enhancing the stability and prosperity of Eritrea and the Horn of Africa,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to lift international sanctions on Eritrea following a historic peace accord with Ethiopia.

Targeted sanctions -- including assets freeze and travel bans on senior officials of Eritrea, as well as an arms embargo -- were imposed at the beginning of 2009, citing the country’s alleged support for al-Shabaab militants in Somalia and the country's refusal to settle a border dispute with Djibouti. Eritrea denied supporting al-Shabaab.

The council's decision to lift the penalties was prompted by a warming in regional ties in the Horn of Africa, highlighted by Ethiopia and Eritrea's signing in September of a peace agreement that fully restored ties between the neighbors.

Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, and from 1998 to 2000 the two countries fought a bloody war in which an estimated thousands perished.

Eritrea's ties with Djibouti are also warming following years of contention over their shared land border.