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The President on July 8, 2014 signed a new Executive Order “Taking Additional Steps to Address the National Emergency With Respect to the Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo”.
The new Executive order blocks all property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person (including any foreign branch) of the following persons and provides that the property may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in the persons listed in the Annex to the order; and any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State:
• to be a political or military leader of a foreign armed group operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)that impedes the disarmament, demobilization, voluntary repatriation, resettlement, or reintegration of combatants;
• to be a political or military leader of a Congolese armed group that impedes the disarmament, demobilization, voluntary repatriation, resettlement, or reintegration of combatants;
• to be responsible for or complicit in, or to have engaged in, directly or indirectly, any of the following in or in relation to the DRC:
(1) actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, or stability of the DRC;
(2) actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in the DRC;
(3) the targeting of women, children, or any civilians through the commission of acts of violence (including killing, maiming, torture, or rape or other sexual violence), abduction, forced displacement, or attacks on schools, hospitals, religious sites, or locations where civilians are seeking refuge, or through conduct that would constitute a serious abuse or violation of human rights or a violation of international humanitarian law;
(4) the use or recruitment of children by armed groups or armed forces in the context of the conflict in the DRC;
(5) the obstruction of the delivery or distribution of, or access to, humanitarian assistance;
(6) attacks against United Nations missions, international security presences, or other peacekeeping operations; or
(7) support to persons, including armed groups, involved in activities that threaten the peace, security, or stability of the DRC or that undermine democratic processes or institutions in the DRC, through the illicit trade in natural resources of the DRC;
• except where intended for the authorized support of humanitarian activities or the authorized use by or support of peacekeeping, international, or government forces, to have directly or indirectly supplied, sold, or transferred to the DRC, or been the recipient in the territory of the DRC of, arms and related materiel, including military aircraft and equipment, or advice, training, or assistance, including financing and financial assistance, related to military activities;
• to be a leader of an entity, including any armed group, that has, or whose members have, engaged in any of the activities described above or an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to the order;
• to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, logistical, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of any of the activities described above or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order; or
• to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order.”
A new subsection (d) is added to section 1 of Executive Order 13413 to read as follows:
“(d) The prohibitions in subsection (a) of this section apply except to the extent provided by statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit gr granted prior to the effective date of this order
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