Effective November 1, 2021, the Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) amended the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to add and update entries for Ethiopia and Eritrea, respectively. As a result, it is now the policy of the United States to deny licenses and other approvals for exports of defense articles and defense services to certain end-users (see below) in these countries. The Federal Register notice states that the United States “has deepening concerns about the ongoing crisis in northern Ethiopia as well as other threats to the sovereignty, national unity, and territorial integrity of Ethiopia. People in northern Ethiopia continue to suffer human rights violations, abuses, and atrocities, and urgently needed humanitarian relief is being blocked by the Ethiopian and Eritrean militaries as well as other armed actors.”
With these amendments to the ITAR, it is now the policy of the United States to deny licenses or other approvals for exports of defense articles or defense services destined to or for the armed forces, police, intelligence, or other internal security forces of Eritrea and Ethiopia.