Ambassador Mayr-Harting stated there was insufficient information, for about one third of the 513 names on the current List of 402 individuals and 111 firms. The data shortfall prevented the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) from providing Òspecial noticesÓ, without which law enforcement entities and border guards could not implement the resolution. He added that 38 of the persons listed were presumed dead. While critics lambasted this assertion, (something akin to deceased people listed on a voters roll in Chicago or Philadelphia), this does not say that the majority of the information is wrong.
Of the 402 suspects, 260 have Al Qaida affiliations while 142 are connected with the Taliban.
Consider for a moment the committee's area of responsibility; Afghanistan, PakistanÕs wildest frontier regions, Algeria, Somalia, and Yemen and one begin to see why information is hard to collect, often deliberately misleading, and changing like the shifting the desert sands. Information is voluntarily provided by UN member states.
The committee is charged with identification and then slapping targeted financial sanctions; freezing bank accounts and currency transfers, travel bans, and arms embargos. Being realistic, suspects on the list no doubt have some pretty creative ways to bank and move money, are not exactly traveling on British Airways business class, nor have any need to buy weapons which they already have in abundance.
But after having reviewed the list with 400 names and over 100 companies, I could not but recall the UNÕs infamous ÒOil for Food CommitteeÓ which presumably monitored transactions of the Saddam regimeÕs tightly sanctioned oil sales in exchange for food and humanitarian supplies for the Iraqi people. Naturally all sorts of sleazy deals lubricated oil for food transactions turning the operation into something which would make Bernie Madoff blush.
But the cast of characters presented here somehow echoed the telephone directory thick lists of firms listed through Paul VolkerÕs very polite investigation of Oil for Food.
The Taliban and Al-Qaida sanctions committee List boasts a casbah maze of Islamic Benevolence groups and Charities (some with links in Canada and the USA), various Banks and money transfer operations in Somalia, the more virile Islamic International Brigades and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs, Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, and Al-Qaida in Iraq, varied and sundry Òtrading companiesÓ and quite improbably, a group of sweet shops and honey producers in Yemen.
For example, the Algeria-based Al Qaida of the Maghreb has threatened Chinese workers in Africa to avenge BeijingÕs mistreatment of ethnic Muslims in Singkiang province.
Individuals listed form a wide array of criminals who tend to come from North Africa, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Richard Barrett, Coordinator of the CommitteeÕs Sanctions Monitoring Team, stated that most threats focused on the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier, North Africa, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, among other regions. .
When asked about specific areas of concern, Barrett said Al Qaida had Òclose relationshipsÓ with groups in that region, particularly in Algeria, and was actively recruiting in Morocco, Tunisia, Mali, and particularly in Mauritania. However, ÒAlgeria remained the main focus.Ó The UN should know. Islamic terrorists bombed the UNÕs Algiers offices in December 2007 killing 17 staff.
Equally IndonesiaÕs Jemaah Islami network may be implicated for the terrorist bombing of two luxury hotels in Jakarta killing many foreigners.
Viewing Al-Qaida in the Philippines, Barrett added that the Abu Sayyaf group had been listed as one of the most active in that archipelagoÕs Mindanao island. It was Ònear the topÓ in terms of killings by Al-Qaida associates. Just last week Islamic militants bombed a church in the southern Philippines.
Global terrorism remains a serious threat. While the committee does not have arrest or prosecutorial powers, is gathers key pieces of the puzzles; vital information which can lead to arrests and prosecution. Whether governments are willing to take this seriously and tighten the global noose on Taliban and Al Qaida remains quite another question.
