The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on Eritrea for alleged human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions. The EU did not elaborate on the sanctions, but this month the United Nations accused Eritrean forces of having been operating. In the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, and there are reports suggesting that they were responsible for atrocities. The EU has blacklisted Eritrea’s national security office, which is responsible for intelligence, interrogation and arrests.” The National Security Office is responsible for serious human rights violations in Eritrea, in particular for arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and torture,” the EU said after the 27-nation bloc foreign ministers agreed on measures. The Eritrean Foreign Ministry responded by stating that the EU’s decision was “malicious” and accused the bloc of filling a gap between Eritrea and Ethiopia. He also said the EU is trying to restore power to the Tigray people’s Liberation Front. The EU has no legal or moral prerogative for its decision and has simply made false accusations to harass Eritrea for other ulterior motives, “the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes amid the fighting in Ti gray since the outbreak of conflict in November last year, when both Ethiopia and Eritrea have refused to use troops in Eritrea to fight the Tigray conflict, despite reports from an Ethiopian general and witnesses present.
