Ahmed Ag Albachar (Ag Albachar) was designated for being responsible for, or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged in, obstructing the delivery or distribution of, or access to, humanitarian assistance, in relation to Mali.
Ag Albachar, the self-proclaimed president of a humanitarian commission, has intimidated and extorted aid organizations in Mali’s Kidal region, severely hindering their work. Ag Albachar has controlled which humanitarian projects take place, as well as the projects’ location, timing, and who implements them. Ag Albachar has also usurped a significant share of humanitarian aid in the Kidal region by imposing illegitimate constraints on humanitarian actors under the threat of violence.
On February 7, 2020, OFAC issued the Mali Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 555 (85 FR 7223, February 7, 2020) (the “Regulations”), to implement Executive Order (E.O.) 13882 of July 26, 2019, “Blocking Property and Suspending Entry of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Mali” (84 FR 37055, July 30, 2019), pursuant to authorities delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury in E.O. 13882. The Regulations were initially issued in abbreviated form for the purpose of providing immediate guidance to the public. OFAC is revising the Regulations to further implement E.O. 13882. OFAC is amending and reissuing the Regulations as a more comprehensive set of regulations that includes additional interpretive guidance and definitions, general licenses, and other regulatory provisions that will provide further guidance to the public. Due to the number of regulatory sections being updated or added, OFAC is reissuing the Regulations in their entirety.
On July 26, 2019, the President, invoking the authority of, inter alia, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA) and the United Nations Participation Act (22 U.S.C. 287c) (UNPA), issued E.O. 13882. In E.O. 13882, the President determined that the situation in Mali, 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 Multi-dimensional Integrated Stabilizations Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), and international security presences, constituted an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and declared a national emergency to deal with that threat.
