On Thursday 28 September, the Council transposed into legal acts the provisions of the United Nations Security Council enabling sanctions against those who actively stymie progress in implementing the 2015 agreement for peace and reconciliation in Mali. These legal acts were adopted by written procedure and were published in the Official Journal on 29 September.
The targeted people and entities will be designated by the UN as being responsible for or complicit in actions or policies that threaten the peace, security or stability of Mali, the EU Council states in a press release. "In particular, that may cover engaging in hostilities in violation of the agreement on peace and reconciliation in Mali or in attacks against the Malian institutions and security and defence forces, as well as against international presences", the Council states, mentioning the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission (MINUSMA) peacekeepers, the Group of Five for the Sahel (G5 Sahel) joint force, European Union missions and French forces.
Sanctions can also result from obstructing the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Mali, engaging in human rights abuses, and the use or recruitment of children by armed groups or armed forces in the context of the conflict in Mali.
The sanctions will include a ban on entry to the European Union, the freezing of assets in the EU belonging to targeted individuals or entities, and prohibiting persons or entities established within the EU from making funds available to these targeted individuals.
The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2374 on 5 September, which creates a targeted sanctions regime on people posing a threat to the peace agreement in Mali (see EUROPE 11859). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)