President signs Executive Order blocking property contributing to the conflict in the Central African Republic

The Executive Order (EO), which includes the declaration of a national emergency, was declared because the President determined that the situation in and in relation to the Central African Republic, which has been marked by a breakdown of law and order, intersectarian tension, widespread violence and atrocities, and the pervasive, often forced recruitment and use of child soldiers, which threatens the peace, security, or stability of the Central African Republic (CAR) and neighboring states, and which was addressed by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 2121 of October 10, 2013, Resolution 2127 of December 5, 2013, and Resolution 2134 of January 28, 2014, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.

The EO 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 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 responsible for or complicit in, or to have engaged in, directly or indirectly, any of the described activities in or in relation to the CAR; to be a leader of any entity whose property is blocked or that has engaged in the listed activities; to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, logistical, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of any blocked person or any of the described activities; 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.

The prohibitions include but are not limited to the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked; and the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person. There is also a travel ban and a prohibition on any transaction that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in the EO as well any conspiracy formed to violated any of the EO’s prohibitions.