The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
What sanctions mean
Anyone sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act joins Uganda-linked listed names like Joseph Kony, commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels and his son Kony Salim Saleh and commanders Lokweny Okot.
The list also has notorious names like Jamil Mukulu, the jailed head of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels and their commanders like Junju Abdullah aka Steven Alilabaki and Hussein Muhammad aka David Kyagulanyi.
The list also has names of companies like Machanga Ltd which has links to mineral trade in the DR Congo and is connected to Paul Malong, a powerful South Sudanese. Another listed company is Uganda Commercial Impex said to operate in the Karamoja area but with offices on Kanjokya Street in Kampala.
The law, named after a Russian accountant Sergei Magnitsky who was killed in Russia for exposing tax fraud, allows the USA to place sanctions on any ground, company or individual around the world they deem to be corrupt and abuser of human rights.
The sanctions mean the U.S. can attach the property of the sanctioned individual in the U.S. if any. They are also denied entry into the U.S. and blocked from doing business banks and other companies that have business links to the U.S.
The sanctions prohibit any U.S. person from investing in or purchasing significant amounts of equity or debt instruments of a sanctioned personae entity. Although the “sanctions” are nominally imposed on foreigners, the actual penalties are assessed for violations of the prohibition to U.S. persons or entities who may knowingly engage in any transaction, directly or indirectly, with the sanctioned individuals.
If any of the sanctioned individuals seeks to transact with a company that is not from USA but has subsidiaries in the U.S., the company is likely to reject such transaction as the U.S. may accuse it of violating the sanctions.
Many people have since been asking while only commanders are listed. What about the president? Apparently, sanctions against individuals are the lowest on the tier of sanctions open to America.
The sanctions programs are based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals and can be either comprehensive (in that they prohibit transactions with an entire country or region) or targeted towards certain individuals, government officials or industries within those countries.
The sanctions are purposefully put to cause financial difficulties to the target individual. That is possibly why the list is maintained by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, imposes the sanctions.
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Thank.you for publishing this
Thank you
I applaud the USA for doing this. They should not only shutdown these guys and slap sanctions on them, their families, children, relatives and anyone connected to their circle for the next 40 years. They should not have access to USA, Europe, UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, NZ for education, medical treatment or anything else. That is the only way to pay back for the pain and suffering they have caused to Ugandans who were abused by them for 35 years. Moreover these sanctions should be extended to Museveni, his family and all relatives including enablers like Ofwono Opondo, and regime apologists like my friend Andrew Mwenda.
They are all idiot
That is laughable. Does the outgoing Trump administration have power over Europe, UK, Australia, Canada, Japan or New Zealand? And if you are applauding the Trump administration, have you heard anything about Black Lives Matter? In USA the Blacks would consider you a traitor to the Black cause. You are the type who bootlicks the imperialists.
xxx
This can only bite if these people were doing business in USA. Pompeo-Trump administration is now a lame duck. Trump should first concede that he has lost an election. He’s already disgraced.