RI, Russia and Australia call for unity to fight al-Qaeda groups

RI, Russia and Australia call for unity to fight al-Qaeda groups

Edith M. Lederer Associated Press/United Nations

The latest terrorist targets - Indonesia, Russia and Australia -- called on Monday for greater international cooperation to identify al-Qaeda supporters and halt their activities.

Two days after the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the United Nations UN Security Council held an open meeting to consider a critical report on the implementation of sanctions against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It warned that terrorists have become skilled at evading sanctions and called for new and creative measures to cut off their financing and support.

Australia's UN Ambassador John Dauth said the bomb blast last week outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta that killed at least nine people and injured some 182 others showed how vital it is to constrain the activities of groups supporting al-Qaeda.

Indonesian police immediately blamed the attack on Southeast Asia-based Jamaah Islamiyah, which has also been implicated in the Oct. 12, 2002, bombings on the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, and last year's bombing of the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta, killing 12 people.

Dauth said Australia played a leading role in having Jamaah Islamiyah and key members added to the UN list in October 2002, and told the council the government remained alert to developments that might require revised or additional listings.

"Governments need to ensure that, as al-Qaeda and affiliated terrorist groups mutate, they have the tools to cut off those terrorists' finances and other support," he said.

Indonesia's deputy UN ambassador Rezlan Ishar Jenie called for further improvement of the UN list and said terrorism should be fought multinationally and on many different levels.

Indonesia is ready to take the necessary measures and to work with other states and organizations to ensure that "terrorism will run out of room to hide, and is defeated," he said.

"Success in the fight against terrorism directly depends on unity of efforts of the international community," said Russia's UN Ambassador Andrey Denisov, whose country is still reeling from the three-day school siege in the town of Beslan that left at least 330 hostages dead, many of them children.

UN anti-terrorism sanctions require all 191 UN member states to impose a travel ban and arms embargo against a list of those linked to the Taliban or al-Qaeda and to freeze their financial assets. There are currently 317 individuals and 112 groups on the list.

The report by a new team monitoring implementation of sanctions said more information is needed about many of those on the list - and many more names need to be added.

"We have heard considerable complaints about the list, but complaints won't help the matter," said Denisov, who urged all 191 UN member states to provide additional information "to enhance the content of the list."

U.S. deputy ambassador Stuart Holliday said the recent events had served "as a sad and sobering reminder" that the global threat of terrorism persisted.

A "high bar" must continue to be set in the fight against al- Qaeda, he said. "This is a fight none of us can afford to lose. Our efforts must be tireless."

Chile's UN Ambassador Heraldo Munoz, who chairs the Taliban and al-Qaeda sanctions committee, said in addition to improving the list, the committee needs "to reevaluate whether sanctions are adequate, or whether they need to be strengthened."

"Al-Qaeda has had the ability, the flexibility to circumvent our sanctions," he said. "Now, we have to do our work to be up to the challenge."

More than 30 countries have contributed names to the current terrorist list, but Munoz said about one-third are technically inaccurate.

He said the sanctions committee will analyze the recommendations of the new monitoring committee and report to the Security Council.