UN
Security Council Toughens Sanctions Against
Al Qaeda and Taliban
NEW
YORK (By Andrei Loshchilin, RIA Novosti) – The UN Security Council
toughened on Friday its sanctions regime against terrorist networks
Al Qaeda and Taliban.
"We learned
the lessons from the mistakes committed earlier," Chile’s
permanent representative to the UN, Eraldo Munos, who chairs the
Security Council in January told reporters upon resolution adoption.
The first
sanctions against Al Qaeda were introduced by the UN in 1999 after
an indictment in absentia was brought in to Osama bin Laden for
blowing up the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
In January
2003 the sanctions were supplemented and extended to the former
leaders of the Afghan radical movement Taliban and persons and
organizations associated with them. These measures included freezing
financial assets, and banning trips and weapons deliveries.
The resolution
adopted on Friday extends the list of financial assets subject
to the sanctions and sets mechanisms of supervisory and punitive
measures.
"The
idea is not only to freeze economic resources. The resolution
names other kinds of property besides bank accounts," Munos
said. "A signal is given to the countries to attentively
watch charity organizations, and not to forget about alternative
systems of money transfers that may be used by terrorists."
The resolution sets March 31, 2004 as a deadline by which the
countries must submit written reports on antiterrorist measures
taken by them. The list of countries that will fail to do so by
the time indicated is to be made public by the sanctions committee.