PRESS BRIEFING BY CHAIRMAN OF SECURITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON SANCTIONS ON AL QAEDA, TALIBAN

PRESS BRIEFING BY CHAIRMAN OF SECURITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE

ON SANCTIONS ON AL QAEDA, TALIBAN

The second report of a Security Council Committee overseeing sanctions against Al Qaeda and the Taliban was richer and more detailed than the first, but still unsatisfactory, the Committee’s Chairman told a Headquarters press briefing this morning.

Heraldo Muñoz (Chile), who was joined by Michael Chandler (United Kingdom), Chairman of the Committee’s Monitoring Group, said that body had received only 84 reports from a total of 191 Member States.  That result was clearly disappointing, considering that about 4,000 individuals linked to Al Qaeda had so far been arrested and prosecuted in 102 nations.

The Committee, set up pursuant to Council resolution 1267 (1999), oversees an arms embargo, a travel ban and the freezing of assets belonging to individuals on its Consolidated List of persons linked to Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their associates.  The Monitoring Group, appointed in accordance with Council resolution 1455 (2003), began monitoring and reporting on implementation of the sanctions this year.

Regarding terrorist funding, Mr. Muñoz noted that States had succeeded in freezing the bank accounts of many terrorists, but freezing their properties and businesses had proved much more challenging.  Moreover, terrorists were still abusing charities, including some already on the Consolidated List.  Charities dedicated to religious and humanitarian activities were difficult to regulate and control.

The Monitoring Group had also uncovered violations of the travel ban, he said, adding that information on arms provided by Member States had been too scanty to properly assess the embargo.  “Some academic institutions and non-governmental organizations had more information regarding arms than the Committee itself.  We need more cooperation from Member States”, he noted.

Mr. Chandler said the Monitoring Group had visited several Middle Eastern countries, which had described difficulties with arms and porous borders.  Both Yemen and Saudi Arabia, for example, had said that the weapons and explosives used in attacks on Riyadh had been smuggled across their 1,100-mile border.  Also, man portable air defence systems (MANPADS) were becoming more of a concern, with an airbus having been damaged in a terrorist attack as it landed in Iraq about two weeks ago.  The Committee had also touched on the possibility of Al Qaeda or some element within the network using weapons of mass disruption or destruction, he said.

Responding to a correspondent’s question about the actual need for the report, given that several agencies and governments were also focusing on terrorist groups, Mr. Muñoz said the Monitoring Group and its specialists were vital to the information-gathering process, strengthening the multilateral approach.

Asked by another correspondent whether a stronger resolution was needed to pry information from reluctant countries, he replied that it may be necessary to give more “teeth” to the sanctions, which had some feeble aspects.  Recommendations by the Monitoring Group would likely lead to a new resolution.

In response to another question, Mr. Muñoz said South-East Asia seemed to have become a new theatre of action in the terrorist network, drawing in Al Qaeda and another 30 to 40 groups it had helped to fund and train.  The subregion’s governments were taking action, including Indonesia’s setting up of a financial intelligence unit.  About 97 people had been arrested in connection with the Bali and other bombings, and large amounts of money moving through non-bank transfers had been detected.

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