Nearly 50 nations want JI listed as terrorist group

Nearly 50 nations want JI listed as terrorist group

Agencies, Canberra

Nearly 50 countries are calling on the United Nations to declare
a Southeast Asian religious militant network a terrorist group,
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Thursday.

The move would direct the 190 UN members to freeze the Jamaah
Islamiyah group's assets, prevent sales of weapons to the group
and stop its members from traveling through the countries.

Jamaah Islamiyah, believed to be seeking an Islamic state
spanning across Southeast Asia, is a key suspect in the nightclub
bombing on the Indonesian island of Bali that killed more than
180 people earlier this month.

Australian representatives in New York submitted a formal
request on Monday night to the 15-member Security Council calling
for the terrorist declaration, Downer said in a statement.

"I am confident that the listing will proceed smoothly,"
Downer said, adding that 47 UN member countries already had
signaled their support and would urge the Security Council to
adopt the declaration.

However, of the 15 council members only seven - Mauritius,
Norway, Singapore, Britain, the United States, Ireland and France
- have indicated support. That leaves Mexico, Russia, Syria,
Bulgaria, Cameroon, China, Colombia and Guinea to state their
position.

Now that the request has been made, a 48-hour "no objections"
period follows. If no Security Council member objects, the
listing would take place on late Friday.

Australia and the United States campaigned for the declaration
this week by circulating a report among UN members blaming Jamaah
Islamiyah for several deadly bombings.

Downer said the request to the Security Council identifies key
figures in the group and their links to al-Qaeda; shows proof of
the group's ability and intent to conduct terrorist attacks;
includes Jamaah Islamiyah admissions of helping to plan and
finance bombings in the Philippines and Indonesia.

Downer said he also welcomed the U.S. designation on Wednesday
of Jamaah Islamiyah as a terrorist group under U.S. law.

Meanwhile, The British government on Thursday announced a ban
on Jamaah Islamiyah and ordered a freezing of the organization's
assets.

Home Secretary David Blunkett said the Indonesian-based
organization is to be added to a list of banned terrorist groups
in Britain.

"I am laying an order to prescribe JI and we will debate that
next week at the House of Commons," said Blunkett.

The British government's move comes just a day after the U.S.
State Department officially designated JI a "foreign terrorist
organization."

Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia,
Indonesia and the Philippines, which have formed the JI's recent
theater of operations, have also requested the UN to declare JI
as a terrorist group.

Singapore has asked the United Nations to add JI to its list
of terror organizations, the government said.

Authorities in the city-state have arrested 31 suspected
members of the group since last year for an alleged plot to blow
up U.S. and other western targets here.

"The Singapore government has written today to the UN Security
Council Committee...to request the addition of 'The Jamaah
Islamiyah' to the list of terrorists maintained by the UN," the
foreign affairs ministry said in a statement issued on late
Wednesday.

"The decision by several governments to jointly request the
addition of the JI to the UN list reflects the global nature of
the threat posed by terrorist groups such as the JI and the
resolve of the international community to cooperate in counter
terrorism," the ministry said.

In Manila, an official said on Thursday some Filipinos occupy
key positions in JI but the government has yet to find evidence
linking the Bali and Philippine bombings.

"We have reason to believe that they, the Abu Sayyaf and
elements of JI have joined together to come up with a
comprehensive plan of terrorism," immigration commissioner Andrea
Domingo said over ABS-CBN television.

"I think it happened maybe in August."

Filipino Muslim militants get from JI "two things: one, they
get money, and two they get training," Domingo said.

"There are some Filipinos who would be high-ranking and who
could participate in the planning and organizing" of attacks by
JI, she added without giving any names.