President Obama signed an executive order freezing the US assets of Somali pirates and militants, and Yemeni Fares Manna for violating the arms embargo on Somalia. Nice move!!! I guess Manna's smuggled shipload of Chinese weapons (and all the ships before) didn't exactly escape notice. Yemeni arms to Somalia is a main cause of instability, the UN found. I have no idea if Fares Manna has US assets, but for sure he's a leading regional arms smuggler. I've been saying that for five years. Fares Manna was also the Yemeni government's prime negotiator with the Houthi rebels and his brother Hassan was the governor of the war torn Sa'ada governorate until Fares was arrested last month.
AP Obama's action would allow the Treasury Department to sanction or freeze the assets of individuals involved in piracy off Somalia's coast or militants who have done anything to threaten the shaky nation's stability. The piracy and eroding security in Somalia, where al-Qaida linked insurgents are finding sanctuary, "constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States," Obama said in an executive order.
The order targets anyone who threatens the peace, interferes with the delivery of humanitarian assistance or violates the United Nations arms embargo in the lawless nation.
Earlier Tuesday, Treasury officials imposed new sanctions on nearly a dozen suspected Islamist militants, including some linked to the al-Shabab terrorist group in Somalia....
The Treasury Department said that it would also freeze the assets of: Abshir Abdillahi, 44; Hassan Abdullah Hersi al-Turki, 66; Ahmed Abdi aw-Mohamed, 33; Yasin Ali Baynah, 44; Mohamed Abdi Garaad, 37; Yemane Ghebreab, 59; Fuad Mohamed Khalaf; Bashir Mohamed Mahamoud, 28; Mohamed Sa'id, 44; and Fares Mohammed Mana'a, a Yemeni who reportedly holds a diplomatic passport from Yemen. All of the ages are estimates provided by the department.
Mana'a, one of the biggest arms dealers in Yemen, has been arrested and in the custody of Yemeni authorities for more than a month.
By Jane 
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