President Trump issues Mali EO

Against a backdrop of continuing unrest in the country, US president Donald Trump has issued an executive order (‘EO’) blocking property and suspending ‘entry of certain persons contributing to the situation in Mali.’

The EO says that the situation in the country, ‘including repeated violations of ceasefire arrangements made pursuant to the 2015 Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali; the expansion of terrorist activities into southern and central Mali; the intensification of drug trafficking and trafficking in persons, human rights abuses, and hostage-taking; and the intensification of attacks against civilians, the Malian defense and security forces, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilizations Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), and international security presences, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.’

The EO gives authority to the president to impose sanctions against persons including those who have threatened the country’s peace, security or stability, actions that undermine democratic processes, hostile acts, threaten the implementation of the 2015 Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation, and those whose actions threaten the MINUSMA mission.

See:
https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20190726_33.aspx