Something to note in passing.
[GaroweOnline] The Trump administration lifted sanctions on Eritrea...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age...
n Defense Forces and other entities in Eritrea on Friday in a move analysts have said could boost US ties to the African nation given its strategic location along the Red Sea shipping route.
The move, announced in a notice posted on the Department of Treasury's website and welcomed by the Eritrean government, comes as the war in the Middle East has expanded, with additional attention on the Red Sea, where Eritrea's coastline is opposite Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...Rooters previously reported that Republican US President Donald Trump
...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!...
's administration was planning to remove the sanctions, citing an internal government document.
Trump's Democratic predecessor Joe
The Big GuyBiden
...46th president of the U.S.
I'm not working for you. Don't be such a horse's ass....
had imposed sanctions in 2021 against Eritrea's ruling party and military as well as senior Eritrean officials for their role in a war in neighboring Æthiopia, where Eritrean forces backed Æthiopian troops fighting regional authorities in the northern Tigray region.
Yemane Gebremeskel, Eritrea's information minister, told Rooters that the sanctions had caused incalculable damage to the country.
"The unilateral sanctions imposed by the Biden Administration five years ago were not warranted by any metrics... In this respect, we welcome the gesture and remedial measures by the Trump Administration," he said.