Sanctions on Eritrea?

A few days ago, the African Union petitioned the UN Security Council to levy sanctions on Eritrea for its role in supporting and arming Islamist militants in Somalia. The BBC’s correspondent calls this show of AU unity against one of their own “an unprecedented development,” and Eritrea, in response, has lashed out at the organization, even saying it will suspend its membership.

An arms embargo already exists in Somalia, and the international community certainly needs to get serious about making it stick. But that means advising against reckless incursions by the Ethiopian military as well as ceasing Eritrean support for insurgents. Somalia cannot be allowed to become (again) the territory for an East African proxy war. Even if only for the relatively short-sighted cause of stopping piracy, the rest of the world needs to be paying attention to Somalia’s other borders, as well.

Readers, this is a topic of interest to many of you — what do you think? Sanctions on Eritrea? Censuring Ethiopian incursions? The responsibility of the government of Somalia?