The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three Malian government and military officials for helping the Russian private military company Wagner Group deploy and expand its operation in Mali. The designations target Sadio Camara, Mali’s defense minister, Alou Boi Diarra, chief of staff of Mali’s Air Force, and Adama Bagayoko, the Malian Air Force deputy chief of staff.

The U.N. Security Council recently updated two entries on its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida Sanctions list. The changes revise identifying information for Yazid Sufaat, who worked on al-Qaida’s biological weapons program, and Faysal Ahmad Bin Ali al-Zahrani, who is “reportedly deceased” and was an official with al-Qaida in Iraq.

President Joe Biden this week renewed a national emergency authorizing certain sanctions related to transnational criminal organizations, which "threaten international political and economic systems and pose a direct threat to the safety and welfare" of the U.S. The emergency was renewed for another year from July 24.

The U.S. and U.K. discussed various sanctions issues July 19 during the first U.S.-U.K. Strategic Sanctions Dialogue in Washington, including various “priorities across geographic and thematic sanctions regimes,” the State Department said. The agency said the two countries “continue to intensify our coordination on United Nations and autonomous sanctions regimes” and discussed ways to coordinate the measures with other countries to “show collective leadership on the targeted, legitimate, and effective use of sanctions to tackle threats to international peace and security.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control July 19 again extended a general license that continues to delay an exemption that would authorize certain transactions related to Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. General License 5L, which replaced GL 5K, now authorizes certain transactions with PdVSA involving an 8.5% bond on or after Oct. 20. The previous license was set to allow those transactions to occur on or after July 20.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned North Macedonian businessman Jordan Kamcev for corruption, saying he abused his office and laundered money for more than a decade. Brian Nelson, the Treasury Department’s terrorism and financial intelligence undersecretary, said Kamcev pursued a “self-serving agenda at the expense of North Macedonia’s democratic institutions and citizens.”

Three Belgian nationals and one Mexican national were sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control this week for their role in international drug trafficking, including cocaine and fentanyl. The designations target Othman El Ballouti, Younes El Ballouti and Youssef Ben Azza, three Belgians involved in an international criminal organization that smuggles “significant quantities” of cocaine in shipping containers through Belgium’s Port of Antwerp. OFAC also sanctioned Mexican Franco Tabarez Martinez, a narcotics trafficker in Guerrero, Mexico, who works with sanctioned La Nueva Familia Michoacana drug-trafficking organization and distributes cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine to the U.S.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week published two sets of previously issued general licenses in the Federal Register, including licenses under its Burma Sanctions Regulations, Syria Sanctions Regulations, Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations and Venezuela Sanctions Regulations. The full texts of the licenses are available in the notices.

President Joe Biden this week renewed a national emergency authorizing certain sanctions related to hostage-takers and those who wrongfully detain U.S. nationals abroad. The sanctions were renewed for another year from July 19. The Treasury Department earlier this week issued rules implementing the Hostages and Wrongful Detention Sanctions Regulations, which were ordered by the president in an executive order last year (see 2307100009 and 2207190045).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week deleted a range of entries from its Specially Designated Nationals List that were originally sanctioned for counter-narcotics reasons. The entries include people and entities based in Colombia. The agency didn’t release more information.