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.