Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group adopts Eritrea mutual evaluation report and revises third round evaluation procedures

The Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) published the key outcomes of its 49th Task Force of Senior Officials Meetings held in Kampala from 28 March to 4 April 2025, including the adoption of Eritrea’s Mutual Evaluation Report, updated procedures for the third round of mutual evaluations, and new ESAAMLG communication rules. The Task Force also approved follow-up reports with requests for re-rating for Angola, Madagascar, Mozambique and Namibia. Eritrea’s Mutual Evaluation Report marked the end of ESAAMLG’s second round of mutual evaluations. The revised third round mutual evaluation procedures and follow-up processes were updated to align with recent Financial Action Task Force (FATF) changes to the Universal Procedures, FATF Standards and FATF Methodology, and Tanzania was noted as having substantially completed its International Cooperation Review Group action plan pending an on-site visit by the FATF Africa Joint Group. The Eritrea Mutual Evaluation Report, the associated mutual evaluation procedures and follow-up processes, and the communication rules will be submitted to the ESAAMLG Council of Ministers for approval via a round robin process and published on the ESAAMLG website once they have undergone the Global Quality and Consistency Review. The follow-up reports for the re-rating requests will also be published on the website in due course, and the next Task Force and Council of Ministers meetings are planned for August/September 2025 in Addis Ababa.