U.S. President Barack Obama has extended by one year a state of national emergency with respect to the western Balkan region.

The executive order bans financial transfers to persons engaged in or supporting extremist violence in Macedonia and the rest of the Western Balkan region and those obstructing peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.

Almost 200 people are specifically covered by the order.

The executive order was first issued in 2001 just after the end of a conflict between Macedonians and ethnic Albanians living in Macedonia. The order was amended in 2003.

In extending the emergency, the president said that peace and international stabilization efforts in the Western Balkans continue under threat.