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Threat Assessment I: U.N. Panel Says Al-Qaeda Retains Finances and Arms By Jim Wurst The report by the Monitoring Group — established by the council to track restrictions on those groups and its members, including suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden — says the two organizations “appear to have diversified the movement and security of their finances by acquiring commodities such as gold and diamonds, and by using alternative remittance systems in addition to the formal banking system.” On the other hand, the group said at least 144 countries have blocked a total of $103.8 million in assets worldwide since the terror attacks on the United States on Sept. 11. “Al-Qaeda and its associates continue to utilize the Internet as an effective means of communicating globally and in support of their logistics requirements,” the report says. Neutralizing this capability “must be addressed with energy and resourcefulness and without delay.” “As a result of the freezing of assets that has been and continues to be carried out globally, there are allegations that al-Qaeda, for now at least, may be diversifying financial aspects of its logistics support by converting parts of its assets into gold, diamonds and other precious stones, for example lapis lazuli and sapphires,” the report says. To counter this development, the group recommends that all countries become parties to the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and join the Kimberley Process that regulates the flow of rough diamonds. The group is responsible for monitoring Security Council bans on bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the former rulers of Afghanistan. Security Council Resolution 1390 in January required all states to freeze all financial assets of anyone associated with those two groups and to prevent them from traveling and acquiring weapons. This was an expanded mandate from Resolution 1267 of 1999, which was the first time the council targeted bin Laden and al-Qaeda. That resolution was in response to charges that bin Laden was responsible for the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa. The committee has compiled a list of approximately 300 individuals and entities that are subject to the restrictions in the resolution. The list includes bin Laden, Taliban leader Mohamed Omar and Abu Zubaydah, an al-Qaeda leader who is now in U.S. custody, as well as officials of the former Taliban government (see related GSN story, today). The entities are mostly banks and other financial institutions in the Middle East, Pakistan and Somalia, as well some banks and charities in the United States. The report noted this arms embargo is “very complex.” Unlike other embargoes imposed on states or people in a particular area, this ban “applies to every location where an al-Qaeda member or Taliban fighter could shelter or be based.” Because those groups appear to have access to some of the millions of weapons available in Afghanistan, the group said the embargo The group was critical of some unnamed countries it said were not being sufficiently forthcoming. While acknowledging “legitimate concerns” about sharing intelligence, the report said this concern “does not completely account for the apparent lack of transparency in providing information about individuals or entities.” Other complaints were that some states still provide al-Qaeda and the Taliban with “ready and unhindered access to financial and economic assets” and had not even reported to the committee, which Resolution 1390 required them to do by April 16.
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