ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 14 (Xinhua)-- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday congratulated Eritrea as the United Nations Security Council lifted arms embargo and targeted sanctions against Eritrea.
The Security Council on Wednesday lifted an arms embargo and other targeted sanctions that were imposed on the Red Sea nation for nearly a decade.
Eritrea's neighboring nation Ethiopia - which had been a major proponent of political and economic sanctions against Eritrea for more than two decades - was the first to congratulate the people and government of Eritrea on the lifting of sanctions.
The arms embargo and targeted sanctions by the UN Security Council resolution 1907, which was passed in 2009, accused the Eritrean government of fueling peace and security perils in the troubled Horn of Africa region mainly by supporting the terrorist group Al-Shabaab in Somalia as well as inciting security challenges on Ethiopia.
The Eritrean government, which has been denying any assistance to the terrorist group as well as various other provocative actions in the region, frequently blamed the Ethiopian government for masterminding the claims.
Amid recent positive developments among Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Ethiopian government requested the UN Security Council to lift the sanctions against Eritrea.
"Ethiopia would also like to thank the United Nations Security Council for responding to its call to lift the sanctions imposed on the state of Eritrea," the Ethiopian Prime Minister's Office said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The lifting of the sanctions will have far-reaching effects in improving the stability of the Horn of Africa region and in building a lasting peace and normalization of relations among the countries in the region," the statement read.
The removal of sanctions followed a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings and partnership agreements between countries in the region.
The latest of normalization moves on Saturday brought together leaders of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia who declared new partnership initiatives, eventually igniting positive peace and security expectations in the region, which for long considered as Africa's most troubled and restive.
Ethiopia's Ahmed, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed stressed in a joint statement released after their two-day tripartite meeting in Ethiopia's northern city of Bahir Dar that they would work towards the historic transformation of the region towards peace and integration. Enditem
