The United Nations Security Council voted on Wednesday to impose sanctions on Eritrea, banning arms import and freezing bank accounts of some companies and individuals.
The Council, consisting of 15-member states, passed a relevant resolution by a 13-1 vote. Libya was the only country which voted against sanctions. The delegation of China, which has a veto right in the Council, abstained from the vote.
The sanctions initiated by Uganda are intended to prevent export of arms to neighboring Somalia, where militant groups are fighting against an internationally recognized interim government, and to force Eritrea to withdraw its troops from the territory bordering Djibouti.
The two countries have been in a conflict over border territories since April 2008, when Djibouti said that Eritrean armed forces had penetrated Djiboutian territory and dug trenches on both sides of the border.
In June 2008, armed clashes broke out between the two countries' armies in the disputed area.
A peace and reconciliation agreement between Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) was signed in Djibouti on August 19, 2008, and took note of a request for an international stabilization force to be deployed to the region.
A UN fact-finding mission sent to the area discovered that Djibouti had pulled out of the disputed territory while Eritrea had not.
On January 14, 2009, the UN Security Council passed a resolution urging dialogue between the two countries to solve the issue peacefully. The resolution stipulated Eritrea's withdrawal from the disputed area within five weeks after it was passed.
Among those affected by the freezing of bank accounts are Eritrea's top political and military officials, who are accused of violating a UN embargo on arms supplies to Somalia and breaking agreements on Eritrean-Djiboutian settlement.
UNITED NATIONS, December 23 (RIA Novosti)
