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The South African Communist Party (SACP) congratulates the governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia for signing a watershed ‘Joint Declaration of Peace and Friendship between Eritrea and Ethiopia’ on Monday, 9 July 2018.

Further, the SACP commends Ethiopia for making a formal request to the United Nations to lift the United States led, United Nations sanctions on Eritrea. The lifting of the sanctions stands to unlock the development of the productive forces and economy of Eritrea.

The sanctions were used to suppress the potential of the Eritrean economy and marginalise Eritrea. Their adverse effects were politically exploited to mobilise a negative sentiment against the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, Eritrea’s governing party, and to push a regime change agenda in Eritrea. Eritrea’s democratic national sovereignty must be respected, and the country must be allowed to pursue its chosen development trajectory without outside interference.  

In its statement on the occasion of the commemoration of the 23rd anniversary of the death of its former General Secretary and National Chairperson, the late Cde Joe Slovo, on 6 January 2018, the SACP called on Ethiopia to end its occupation of the Eritrean territory of Badme and its surroundings. This must be implemented as a matter of urgency following the watershed ‘Declaration of Peace and Friendship between Eritrea and Ethiopia’.

The SACP pledges to deepen its international solidarity work in Africa and the world over, and to push the African Revolution towards greater regional and ultimately continental integration.

Issued by SACP