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The Morality of the U.N. Security Council Sanctions against Eritrea: Defensibility, Political Objectives, and Consequences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2013

Redie Bereketeab
Redie Bereketeab*
Affiliation:
Redie Bereketeab is researcher at the Nordic African Institute in Uppsala, Sweden, where he heads a research project on conflict and state-building in the Horn of Africa. He is the author of numerous books and articles. E-mail: redie.bereketeab@nai.uu.se
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Abstract:

This article seeks to examine the sanctions imposed on Eritrea by the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) based on Eritrea’s alleged involvement in Somalia and its border dispute with Djibouti. It argues that the UNSC’s failure to sanction the parties for reneging on their commitment to implement the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s verdict on the border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia casts doubt on the morality of the sanctions. It also argues that the decision may have been driven by political motives. These sanctions will hurt the people of Eritrea and the Eritrean nation, and indeed, there is a real risk that the outcome of the sanctions could be the collapse of the Eritrean state.

Résumé:

L’article cherche à examiner les sanctions imposées sur l’Érythrée par le Conseil de Sécurité des Nations Unies (le CSNU) basées sur l’implication présumée du pays en Somalie et son conflit frontalier avec Djibouti. Il soutient que l’échec du CSNU dans l’effort de sanctionner les gouvernements impliqués pour la rupture de leur engagement à mettre en place le verdict de la Cour concernant le conflit frontalier entre Djibouti et l’Érythrée, lance un doute sur la moralité des sanctions. Cet article soutient également que ces sanctions ont probablement été motivées par des manœuvres politiques. Ces sanctions vont nuire à la nation et au peuple de l’Érythrée, et sans aucun doute, il y a un vrai risque que ces sanctions puisse engendrer l’effondrement de la nation érythréenne.

Keywords

EritreaconflictIGADsanctionsUNSC
Type
ASR FORUM: HOMOPHOBIC AFRICA?
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , September 2013 , pp. 145 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2013 

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