05/01/24 (Agence Europe) – Following the Security Council’s failure to agree on the extension of the United Nations sanctions regime against Mali when it expired on 31 August, the Council of the European Union decided on Thursday 4 January to de-list five individuals subject to a visa ban and a freezing of their funds and economic resources under Regulation (EU) 2017/1770 transposing the UN sanctions. The following are withdrawn from the list: Ahmed Ag Albachar, Houka Houka Ag Alhousseini, Mahri Sidi Amar Ben Daha, Mohamed Ben Ahmed Mahri and Mohamed Ould Mataly. These individuals had been sanctioned for actively obstructing progress in the implementation of the Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali, signed in 2015. The EU Council’s decision was published in the Official Journal of the EU on 5 January. See the decision: https://aeur.eu/f/aah (AN)