On September 18, 2026, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, confirmed that the national emergency declared by Executive Order 14046 on September 17, 2021 had expired. In the same update, OFAC removed from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, the SDN List, the persons and entities that had been designated under that order and removed the program-specific frequently asked questions from its website.
The key issue is scope: the action ends the sanctions basis tied to EO 14046 and removes that program's designees from the SDN List, but it does not automatically cancel other U.S. sanctions regimes, controls, or restrictions that rest on different legal authorities.
What OFAC confirmed on September 18
The official OFAC update dated September 18, 2026 states that the national emergency declared in EO 14046 has expired. OFAC then says that, following that expiration, it removed from the SDN List persons designated pursuant to the order whose property had been blocked. The same notice records the removal of FAQs related to the program.
The general legal mechanism appears in the National Emergencies Act. 50 U.S.C. § 1622(d) provides that a national emergency terminates on the anniversary of its declaration if the President does not publish in the Federal Register and transmit to Congress, within the preceding 90 days, a notice continuing it. For this story, the most important operational fact is OFAC's express confirmation that the EO 14046 emergency expired.
Who was removed from the SDN List
The September 18 bulletin shows 11 deletion lines, but several are name variants and aliases. Looking at the underlying designees, six persons or entities had originally been sanctioned on November 12, 2021. The historical basis for each designation is set out in the Treasury Department's 2021 release.
| Removed designee | Type | Basis stated by Treasury in 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Eritrean Defense Force, also listed as Eritrean Defense Forces | Government entity | Treasury said the Eritrean military had contributed to the crisis in northern Ethiopia or obstructed a ceasefire or peace process. |
| People's Front for Democracy and Justice, PFDJ | Political party | It was designated for activities that Treasury said contributed to the crisis or obstructed a ceasefire or peace process. |
| Abraha Kassa Nemariam, also identified through aliases including Abraha Kassa and Wedi Kassa | Individual | He was designated based on his leadership or official role connected to the Eritrean government or PFDJ and the relationship Treasury described with activities contributing to the crisis. |
| Hidri Trust | Entity | Treasury described it as the holding company for PFDJ business enterprises and designated it based on ownership, control, and instrumentality links to the party and Eritrean government. |
| Hagos Ghebrehiwet W Kidan, also listed under variants including Weldekidane and Woldekidan | Individual | He was designated for materially, financially, or technologically supporting the PFDJ, according to the 2021 release. |
| Red Sea Trading Corporation, RSTC | Entity | Treasury said the company managed PFDJ property and financial interests and designated it as controlled by Hagos Ghebrehiwet W Kidan. |
It is important to separate the original reason for designation from the formal reason for removal. The explanations above describe Treasury's 2021 action. In the 2026 update, OFAC does not present a new individualized conduct assessment for each name. The removals are expressly linked to the expiration of the national emergency declared by EO 14046.
What was the formal reason for removal
OFAC's wording is direct: following the expiration of the national emergency under EO 14046, the agency removed from the SDN List the persons designated pursuant to that order. That makes this event different from an individual delisting following, for example, a reconsideration petition or a specific finding that a particular factual circumstance no longer exists.
The action also should not be read as a declaration of innocence, political rehabilitation, or a historical reversal of the allegations cited in 2021. The September 18 action concerns the end of a specific emergency authority and the resulting OFAC list update.
What changes in practice
- The six underlying designees are removed from the SDN List under the identification tied to EO 14046.
- Blocking restrictions and prohibitions that depended exclusively on those EO 14046 designations no longer operate on that basis after removal.
- Program-specific FAQs were removed from OFAC's website, according to the September 18 update.
- Companies, banks, and compliance teams should use current data from OFAC's Sanctions List Service rather than relying on old copies of the SDN List.
OFAC also maintains historical archives of sanctions list changes. Those records are useful for reconstructing when a name was added, changed, or removed, but the historical archive is not a substitute for the current list when making compliance decisions.
What the expiration does not automatically change
Other sanctions regimes remain legally separate. The end of EO 14046 does not revoke other executive orders, statutes, or programs. An actor may have been or may later be subject to another legal authority, and that status must be checked case by case against OFAC's current lists and other applicable rules.
A historical example illustrates the separation between authorities. In August 2021, before EO 14046, Treasury designated Eritrean Defense Forces Chief of Staff Filipos Woldeyohannes under EO 13818, the Global Magnitsky authority. That action rested on a different authority. The expiration of EO 14046, by itself, does not cancel actions taken under another executive order.
Other U.S. controls do not disappear automatically. Export rules, immigration restrictions, counterterrorism measures, sanctions under other programs, and other regulatory obligations have their own legal bases. The September 18 update does not say those instruments were revoked.
SDN removal does not rewrite the historical record. Treasury's 2021 release remains the source for understanding why the six targets were designated at the time. The 2026 notice reports a later legal and administrative change tied to expiration of the emergency.
The notice does not announce a general amnesty for past conduct. OFAC's text is a program and list update. It does not state that any pending matters, investigations, obligations, or legal consequences based on earlier conduct and supported by independent authority are automatically canceled.
Why this does not mean all sanctions concerning Ethiopia or Eritrea are over
EO 14046 was created in 2021 as a targeted authority addressing persons considered responsible for expanding the crisis in northern Ethiopia, obstructing peace processes, committing serious human rights abuse, or supporting actors meeting the order's criteria. Treasury's original September 2021 announcement stressed that the measure was not directed at the people of Ethiopia, Eritrea, or the greater Horn of Africa and that the program was designed to preserve humanitarian flows.
The most precise reading of the 2026 decision is therefore program-specific: the national emergency supporting EO 14046 expired, and OFAC removed the designees tied to that order from the SDN List. That is different from saying the United States ended every sanction, restriction, or legal tool that could apply to Ethiopia, Eritrea, or actors in the region.
Official sources for tracking further changes
- OFAC, September 18, 2026 update on the expiration and SDN removals.
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, designation of four entities and two individuals on November 12, 2021.
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, announcement of EO 14046 on September 17, 2021.
- 50 U.S.C. § 1622, rules for continuation and termination of national emergencies.
- OFAC Sanctions List Service, current sanctions list data.
