IGAD Calls for Additional Sanctions on Eritrea: Mining Sector and Diaspora

Below is the communiqué as issued by IGAD

COMMUNIQUE OF THE 39th EXTRA-ORDINARY SESSION OF THE IGAD COUNCIL OF MINISTERS ON THE SECURITY AND POLITICAL SITUATION IN SOMALIA, SUDAN AND ERITREA’S ACTIVITIES IN THE REGION

28TH JUNE 2011

The 39th Extra-ordinary Meeting of the IGAD Council of Ministers convened on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, on 28th June 2011 to discuss the developments in Somalia, the Sudan and the activities of Eritrea in the region and to chart the way forward, ahead for an Extra-Ordinary IGAD Summit scheduled for 4 July 2011. The Council was chaired by H.E. Haile Mariam Desalegn, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the current Chairperson of the IGAD Council of Ministers. In attendance were H.E. Mohamed A. Omaar the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia; H.E. Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Djibouti; H.E. Salah Wanassy, State Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Sudan, H.E. Richard Onyonka, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kenya H.E. Amb. James Mugume, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uganda, and H.E. Mahboub M. Maalim, Executive Secretary of IGAD.

The meeting was also attended and briefed by H.E. Deng Alor, the Minister for Regional cooperation of The Government of Southern Sudan, H.E.Boubacar Gaoussou Diarra the Special Representative of the African Union Commission for Somalia; Hon. Kipruto arap Kirwa, IGAD Facilitator for Somalia Peace and National Reconciliation, H.E. Lissane Yohannes, IGAD Special Envoy to the Assessment and Evaluation Commission; H.E. Amb Augustine Mahiga, the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the UN to Somalia.

After deliberating at length on the prevailing political and security situation in Somalia, the Sudan and Eritrea's activities in the region the Council:

On the State of Eritrea

• Strongly condemns the activities of the State of Eritrea that has taken an active part in destabilizing the region by supporting extremist and other subversive elements;
• Calls on the UN Security Council to take all appropriate measures to ensure that the regime in Asmara desists from its destabilization activities in the Horn of Africa;
• Calls on the AU and the UN Security Council to fully implement the existing sanctions and impose additional Sanctions selectively on the Eritrean Regime specially on those economic and mining sectors that the regime draws on including the Eritrean Diaspora as well as ensuring compliance with previous decisions of the UN;
• Decides to remain seized of the matters.

Done in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea on 28th June 2011