BACKGROUND PRESS CALL
BY SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS
ON AN EXECUTIVE ORDER BLOCKING PROPERTY
AND SUSPENDING ENTRY OF CERTAIN PERSONS
CONTRIBUTING TO THE SITUATION IN MALI
Via Teleconference
4:00 P.M. EDT
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us. And for those that tried to join us earlier, we apologize, there was a technical glitch on the line. We're thankful you were able to get through this time.
This will be a briefing, on background, by senior administration officials on an executive order blocking property and suspending entry of certain persons contributing to the situation in Mali.
We have two senior administration officials joining us today. For your informational purposes, they are from the NSC [senior administration official]. And from the State Department, we have [senior administration official]. I'll ask each of them to give a few opening remarks and then we'll turn to Q&A.
[Senior administration official], will you kick us off?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah, sure. Thanks. We're really happy to have this call again and have another opportunity to engage with everyone that's on the line.
As most of you are probably aware, the security situation in Mali continues to deteriorate. Extremist groups are thriving, exploiting ethnic tensions, and expanding their networks well outside Mali's borders.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission has faced more violence and danger than any other mission in U.N. history, and we commend the difficult work these peacekeepers and their partners operating in the region undertake.
While this crisis deepens, the signatory parties to the 2015 Peace Accord, both the government and the armed groups, have made distressingly little headway in implementing key components of the accord that could move the country to a broader peace and tackle many of the grievances that push Malian citizens toward violence.
With the mandate for MINUSMA now renewed for another year through June 30, 2020, the President has signed an executive order to freeze assets and suspend travel of individuals or entities that seek to obstruct the peace process or otherwise undermine the peace, security, or stability of Mali.
The United States will continue to work with its partners and the UN’s Mali Sanctions Committee to identify those individuals that seek to capitalize on instability or maintain the status quo rather than work towards peace, and make them subject to the full effect of these sanctions.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: With that, we'll turn to [senior administration official] for a few remarks.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Great. Thank you. And thank you, everyone, for joining us this afternoon on a Friday in summer.
This is an important action the President is taking today, and so I'd like to talk a little bit about what the executive order actually does.
So what it does: It authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to target both individuals and entities that undermine democratic processes or institutions in Mali, as well as those that threaten the peace, security, or stability of Mali.
And it also authorizes the targeting of individuals and entities who obstruct or delay the implementation of the 25 [2015] Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali, as well as those who continue to attack domestic and international peacekeeping forces in Mali.
Also, the executive order that the President signs today further authorizes the targeting of those who obstruct access to humanitarian assistance; commit acts that constitute human rights abuse; engage in corruption; recruit children for armed groups or traffic in persons, narcotics, or arms.
Now, anyone sanctioned under this executive order can no longer access the United States financial system, and all property and interests in property of these persons that are in the United States, or that are within the possession or control of any United States person, are blocked.
It also further authorizes sanctions on anyone who provides material support to, or goods or services in support of, persons whose property and interests in property are blocked under this order.
So, I'll stop there and look forward to your questions.
Q Thanks for doing this. Chris Sheridan from Al Jazeera English. Why is this being signed today? Is there something that triggered this in particular? An event or something that prompted the President to take this action?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I could take that. This is [senior administration official] at the NSC. This was something that we had in the works for quite some time. This is just -- we had actually hoped to actually put this out closer to the renewal of the MINUSMA mandate, but it was just a matter of working it through the system.
Q Hi. This is Bill Faries with Bloomberg. Are any people or entities being named later today or expected to come soon? Or is this basically kind of a warning that people should be on notice?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Hi. It's the latter. There's no individuals or entities that are being announced today. What we're doing is putting those individuals and entities undermining the peace, security, or stability of Mali on notice. They'll not be allowed to operate with impunity. The international community is watching and will not hesitate to impose costs if this activity persists.
But, per our standard practice, we do not comment on prospective sanctions actions.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Okay. With no additional questions, I would just like to iterate that the content of this call is being embargoed until the release of the executive order.
And to reiterate again, this is a background call attributed to senior administration officials. And thank you, everyone, for participating and listening in.
END 4:07 P.M. EDT
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