WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) – The Treasury Department said
on Thursday it was freezing any assets the new leader of al
Qaeda’s branch in Mali may have in the United States and
prohibited Americans from doing business with him, taking steps
aimed at starving the finances of his militant group.
The sanctions targeted Yahya Abu Al-Hamman, leader in the
Sahel of al Qaeda’s North African wing AQIM, or al Qaeda in the
Islamic Maghreb.
“We have witnessed the suffering that AQIM has inflicted on
the innocent populations and hostages under its control and
remain determined to cut off the funding it needs to recruit new
members and carry out future terrorist attacks,” Treasury Under
Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen
said in a statement.
The Treasury Department said that kidnapping foreigners and
holding them for ransom has netted the group millions of
dollars. Currently, it is believed to be holding at least seven
French hostages.
Around 4,000 French troops, backed by the Malian army and
several thousand troops from other African states, have driven
the al Qaeda-linked Islamist alliance from Mali’s main northern
towns into the remote northeast mountains.
But Islamist insurgent suicide bombings and a rebel raid
last Sunday in the Saharan town of Gao have raised fears of the
French becoming bogged down in an arduous counter-insurgency war
in Mali.
(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Will Dunham)
