IN DECEMBER 2017 the Democratic Republic of Congo was in ferment. Joseph Kabila, then the president, seemed to be weighing whether or not to stand in an election, even though he should have left office fully a year before, having served his two full constitutional terms. In Kinshasa, the capital, Mr Kabila’s allies remarked casually […]

The National Revenue Authority has lately been making suspicious bank transfers out of the non-oil revenue collections, bank documents obtained by Eye Radio show. Established in 2018, the NRA is mandated to assess, collect, administrate and enforce laws relating to taxation and revenues.  The establishment is one of the measures to reduce dependency on oil revenues, […]

Regional bodies and the international community should exert maximum pressure on South Sudan’s warring parties to ensure they implement the peace agreement, a US-based advocacy group said. In a statement, The Sentry, an investigative arm of Enough Project said there should be a campaign tied to explicit benchmarks that will unleash serious consequences for leaders […]

Earlier this month, World Diamond Council president Stephane Fischler wrote that the upcoming Kimberley Process (KP) Plenary in New Dehli, India, could represent a “watershed moment” for the certification scheme, as it will get one more chance to revise its definition of conflict diamonds to include human rights violations. The KP’s civil society coalition similarly warned that the meeting, which it called “the […]

In recent years, Russia has been seeking to expand its influence in Africa. One country it has focused on is the Central African Republic, a small but strategic nation with significant diamond mines. Russia has now announced that it wants to lift an embargo which prohibits suspected “blood diamonds ” from being exported from certain […]

They have been linked to corruption, violence, civil war, rape and murder. But this week Moscow announced it wanted an end to an international embargo on ‘blood’ diamonds exported from the Central African Republic (CAR). According to most estimates, more than 90 per cent of CAR’s diamonds end up being exported anyway – via the […]

“Reporting the facts of such highly volatile and complex crises is essential if they are ever to be tackled, and if the death and suffering are ever to end. The oil companies and authorities who fan the flames for their own ends need to be exposed, and nongovernmental organizations such as Mr. Clooney’s and reporters […]

“Oil revenues and income from other natural resources have continued to fund the [South Sudan civil] war, enabling its continuation and the resulting human rights violations,” according to The Sentry, a website focused on “dirty money connected to African war criminals and transnational war profiteers.” The Petroleum Ministry funded food, fuel, and satellite phone airtime […]

A new report that examines the effectiveness of sanctions is proposing improved regional collaboration and enforcement of ‘network sanctions’ as opposed to individual restrictions, to effectively address threats to regional and international stability. The report compiled by ‘The SENTRY,’ a US-based non-profit investigative team, examines the broad impact of sanctions levied by the United States, […]

Sanctions programs levied on some Sub-Saharan African countries could be made more effective by targeting specific networks rather than comprehensive sanctions against an entire country, a new report says. The report, published by policy advocacy group The Sentry on Thursday, evaluates the effectiveness of sanctions programs currently or previously placed by the U.S., the European Union […]

On October 11, 2019, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Ashraf Seed Ahmed Hussein Ali, a Sudanese national widely known by his pseudonym “Al-Cardinal,” pursuant to Executive Order 13818 and the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, for his alleged involvement in bribery, kickbacks, and procurement fraud with senior […]

South Sudan’s fragile peace deal is faltering less than a month before the country’s president and armed opposition leader are meant to form a coalition government and begin the long recovery from a five-year civil war. Some doubt it’s safe enough for opposition leader Riek Machar to return to the country by Nov. 12, when […]

Sudan’s new, transitional authorities have six months to make peace with the country’s rebels under a power-sharing deal reached this summer between the military and the pro-democracy movement following the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April. If they fail to do so, it could undermine the deal and put the country’s fragile transition […]

The United States on Friday placed sanctions on two businessmen, saying they had been involved in corruption and procurement fraud in South Sudan. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Sudanese businessman Ashraf Seed Ahmed Al-Cardinal and South Sudanese businessman Kur Ajing Ater Ajing for “involvement in bribery, kickbacks […]

The U.S. may impose sanctions on South Sudan’s ruling elite if leaders fail to meet a mid-November deadline to form a unity government, a senior U.S. official warned Thursday. The world’s youngest nation, South Sudan plunged into conflict two years after separating from Sudan and gaining international recognition in 2011. The country’s feuding factions agreed […]

The Africa Oil and Power (AOP) Conference taking place in Cape Town this week is a high-powered event bringing together African governments and top executives of corporates across the energy value chain. The AOP website describes it as “the venue for deal-making with Africa’s emerging enterprises and economies” Deals may be clinched, but will they […]

The Trump Administration is blocking shipments from a Chinese company making baby pajamas sold at Costco warehouses, after the foreign manufacturer was accused of forcing ethnic minorities locked in an internment camp to sew clothes against their will. The government is also blocking rubber gloves sold by industry leader Ansell whose customers include surgeons, mechanics […]

Sudanese businessman Ashraf Seed Ahmed Hussein Ali, known as Al-Cardinal, remains “a major enabler of corruption and violence for President Salva Kiir’s government,” claims the latest investigative report by The Sentry. Al-Cardinal, according to the report published on Monday, “has mastered the art of doing business in a state riddled with corruption.” Since 2006, he has “exploited opaque […]

Host Isabella Chase looks at how innovation could be used to solve a number of problems in the AML/CFT regime. To discuss the latest financial crime news she is joined by Denisse Rudich and Nick Parfitt where they dissect a case brought against BNP Paribas, UK companies being exploited for crime and the latest sanctions […]

The Trump administration’s sanctions chief, responsible for wielding U.S. financial firepower as the White House’s primary foreign-policy tool, is leaving for the private sector, Treasury Department officials said. Sigal Mandelker, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, signaled over the summer her desire to step down, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told the Wall Street Journal… […]