Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/717Show full title

Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/717

of 28 May 2020

implementing Article 17(3) of Regulation (EU) No 224/2014 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in the Central African Republic

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EU) No 224/2014 of 10 March 2014 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in the Central African Republic(1), and in particular Article 17(3) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy,

Whereas:

(1) On 10 March 2014, the Council adopted Regulation (EU) No 224/2014.

(2) On 5 May 2020, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Committee established pursuant to UNSC Resolution 2127 (2013) updated the information relating to one person subject to restrictive measures.

(3) Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 224/2014 should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 224/2014 is hereby amended as set out in the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the date of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 28 May 2020.

For the Council

The President

G. Grlić Radman

ANNEX

In the list set out in Part A (Persons) of Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 224/2014, the entry for Martin KOUMTAMADJI is replaced by the following:

‘13. Martin KOUMTAMADJI (alias: a) Abdoulaye Miskine b) Abdoullaye Miskine c) Martin Nadingar Koumtamadji d) Martin Nkoumtamadji e) Martin Koumta Madji f) Omar Mahamat)

Designation: President and commander-in-chief of the Front Démocratique du Peuple Centrafricain (FDPC)

Date of birth: a) 5 October 1965 b) 3 March 1965

Place of birth: a) Ndïnaba, Chad b) Kobo, Central African Republic (c) Kabo, Central African Republic

Nationality: a) Chad b) Central African Republic c) Congo

Passport no: a) 06FBO2262 (CAR diplomatic passport) issued on 22 February 2007, expired on 21 February 2012b) Congo service passport number SA0020249, issued on 22 January 2019, expires on 21 January 2022;

Address: Am Dafock, Vakaga prefecture, Central African Republic (last known location)

Date of UN designation:20 April 2020

Other information: Martin Koumtamadji founded the FDPC in 2005. He joined the Séléka coalition in December 2012 before leaving it in April 2013 after the rebels took power in Bangui. After being arrested in Cameroon, he was then transferred to Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo. He always remained in command of his troops on the ground in the CAR even when he was in Brazzaville before returning to the CAR (between November 2014 and 2019). The FDPC signed the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in the CAR on 6 February 2019 but Martin Koumtamadji remains a threat to the peace, stability and security of the CAR. Photo available for inclusion in the INTERPOL-UN Security Council Special Notice. INTERPOL-UN Security Council Special Notice web link: https://www.interpol.int/en/How-we-work/Notices/View-UN-Notices-Individuals.

Information from the narrative summary of reasons for listing provided by the Sanctions Committee:

President and commander-in-chief of the Front Démocratique du Peuple Centrafricain (FDPC, an armed group engaged in violent activities), Martin Koumatamadji has engaged in acts threatening the peace, stability and security of the CAR and, in particular, the implementation of the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in CAR signed on 6 February 2019 in Bangui.

He refused the disarmament of FDPC combatants, as per his commitments as a signatory of the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in the CAR, and threatened to overthrow President Touadéra in July 2019.

He began cooperating with sanctioned individual Nourredine Adam (CFi.002) in June 2019 and engaged in arms trafficking with a close associate of Nourredine Adam, in order to build up the military capabilities of the FDPC.

He also made an offer to the Front Populaire pour la Renaissance de la Centrafrique (FPRC) to carry out a military operation with his armed group during the fighting in Vakaga prefecture in 2019.

He continued to impede the restoration of state authority in the areas of operation of the FPDC by maintaining illegal roadblocks to extort cattle herders, economic actors (including gold mining companies operating in the Nana-Mambéré prefecture), and travellers.

Under his leadership, the FDPC committed acts that constituted human rights abuses or violations in the Nana-Mambéré prefecture, including attacks directed against civilians in April 2019, abductions of civilians in March 2019 (near Zoukombo) and acts of sexual and gender-based violence in May 2019 (in Bagary). In 2017, the FDPC also committed 14 acts of sexual violence in conflict.

Between 2016 and 2019, the FDPC recruited children to serve as soldiers in armed conflict and forced eleven girls into marriage with FDPC members.

In March 2019, he was involved in obstructing the delivery of humanitarian assistance when the FDPC, under Miskine’s leadership, conducted a series of attacks on the main road into Bangui from Cameroon.

Finally, FDPC elements skirmished with MINUSCA in April 2019 near Zoukombo (Nana-Mambéré prefecture) and on the Bouar-Beleko axis.’

(1)

OJ L 70, 11.3.2014, p. 1.