UN Sanctions on Eritrea

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Reflections on UN Sanctions Resolution on Eritrea:
It is emotional than practical. It is political than financial. It is symbolic than real. The Eritrean 'state' is not the conventional kind of state. It abhors legal transactions, and adores illicit trade. It largely depends on informal trade.While other states try hard to avoid it, the Eritrean 'state' flourishes on it. The way Asmara does things is totally different. Before the sanctions the leaders in Asmara had at least a choice to go legal, but now they will comfortably join the illegal and underground world in full force.

This aside, the sanctions would never have passed had it not been for the least known border conflict with Djibouti.The frequently violated arms embargo on Somalia was not enough to drum up international consensus towards Eritrea. Besides, Eritrea voluntarily disengaged from international fora. Isolation as a survival mechanism didn’t work in this particular case. For a detailed analysis on the conflict between Eritrea and Djibouti go to the briefing by Medhane Tadesse.It was written two weeks into the conflict.