UN gives nations deadline on al-Qaeda sanctions
AFP, United Nations
The UN Security Council turned up the pressure Friday on nations to clamp down on al-Qaeda and the Taliban, saying they must report on the steps taken by April or risk being named in public. The 15-member council unanimously approved a new resolution that gives countries until March 31 to submit their UN reports on how they are enforcing sanctions on the two groups as well as al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. If they do not file by that deadline, the committee that monitors the sanctions can release their names to the public. Around 100 nations, more than half the UN's membership, have so far failed to report as required. "That is a strong signal so that countries do what they have to do," said Ambassador Heraldo Munoz of Chile, the current council president. He called the measure "an expression of unity" in the global fight against terrorism. One diplomat said it was "unlikely" that nations were enforcing the sanctions and then not filing the reports. But Munoz, who also heads the sanctions committee, has said in the past that a lack of technical and other resources could be keeping nations from fulfilling the requirement. Other diplomats said said one main goal of the resolution was to help implement the existing sanctions -- which include an arms embargo, travel ban and assets freeze -- while leaving open the option of toughening them later on. Munoz noted that the resolution calls on nations to go beyond the simple monitoring of bank accounts, for example, and to examine charities, property and all means used to transfer monies. "The idea is to renew efforts not only to freeze assets and resources, but very specific reference is made to properties, to concrete resources other than bank accounts," he told reporters. The resolution also names an experts panel that could help countries decide what to include in their reports, which are intended to track measures against people and groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. A US-led war toppled the Taliban from power in Afghanistan months several months after the September 11 attacks on the United States, which were blamed on al-Qaeda. The Security Council decided to apply the sanctions then in place against Kabul to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, a hardline Islamic militia.
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