Foreign Policy Compromise or Stumble

It is reported that North Korea sold arms to Ethiopia in January 2007. The Bush Administration had worked to successfully press the UN to impose strict sanctions on North Korea last year that restricted such sales. The Bush Administration may have allowed the sale because Ethiopian troops were in the midst of a battle against Islamic militias in Somalia. This sale appears to be in violation of the restrictions that the UN imposed. The sale supposedly consisted of tank parts and other military equipment.

Ethiopia has had a longstanding reliance on North Korea for cheap Soviet-era military equipment. The Ethiopians told the US in October of 2006 that they were trying to find other suppliers but that it would take some time.