The European Union on Monday placed Abu Yasir Hassan and Bonomade Machude Omar, who hold key leadership positions in the insurgency responsible for carrying out terrorist activities in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.
Together with the two insurgent leaders, the EU also targets the insurgent group, it calls ISIS-Mozambique, who, including Hassan and Omar, are deemed “responsible for terrorist attacks and serious human rights abuses,” read a Council of the EU press release, adding that “[T]heir activities contribute to the expansion of the terrorist threat in Mozambique and pose a serious threat to the EU and to regional and international stability.”
Accordingly, ISIS-Mozambique, Hassan and Omar are “now subject to a travel ban and an asset freeze”, and “EU persons and operators are forbidden from making funds or economic resources available” to them.
The EU has arrived late to the party. In August 2021, the United States designated Omar to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order 13224.
Comment
Observers say that although the EU designation will have zero impact on the insurgency, it might hamper any future mediation efforts should the need for negotiations arise.
This is because normally sanctions arising from designation in lists have consequences on mediation activities. Unless, of course, any possible future negotiations with the insurgents does not involve any travel.
As for asset-freezing, it can only have an impact if the Mozambican authorities have a list of assets owed by the insurgents, otherwise this will be seen as ticking boxes, demonstrating a diplomatic commitment to global developments and violence, as one observer put it.
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