From: Bereket Kidane (welela83@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Dec 30 2009 - 13:15:07 EST
The sanctions passed last week at the UNSC against Eritrea will not have much effect other than raise Eritrea's risk profile to international investors. The timing of the sanctions is more than coincidental since it intersects with the taking off of Eritrea's mining sector. The mining sector is expected to start producing commercially available products in 2010 and bring some much-needed cash to the GoE.
Commercial success and the promise of making a profit attracts investor dollars. That is what the sanctions target. The sanctions are supposed to raise the overall risk profile of Eritrea and make companies who may be interested in investing think twice.
Additionally, this so-called "targeted sanction" against Eritrea is nothing more than a starter sanction. I have no doubt that they will come back again in a few months and claim that Eritrea has not changed its behavior so they have to pass even stronger and more biting sanctions by going directly after banks and companies that do business with Eritrea and possibly even imposing fines against them. For years, we heard that sanctions would not be effective against Eritrea because there was nothing to go after. Now, finally there is.