Analytical center at UN committee on sanctions against al Qaeda and the Taliban created

Representatives of eight countries are part of a new analytical group that was formed by the UN Security Council to examine sanctions against al Qaeda and the Taliban.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday that the group includes Stanislav Frolov (the Russian Federation), Richard Barret (United Kingdom), Wilson Calumba (Zambia), Franc Casbariyan (France), Christine Lee (Singapore), Ashraf Mohsen (Egypt), Harry Peters (the United States) and Linn Walker (Australia).

The members of the group are experts in combating terrorism and drug trafficking. Moreover, they specialize in problems such as, financing terrorism, alternative ways of transferring money, arms supplies and export control.

The analytical center has been set up in line with a UN Security Council resolution on strengthening the regime of sanctions against al Qaeda and the Taliban that was adopted in late January 2004. This resolution extended the list of financial assets liable to such sanctions and defined the mechanisms of implementation of the control and punitive measures.

The resolution also ruled that March 31, 2004 should be the deadline for submitting reports on the anti-terrorist measures.

The first sanctions against al Qaeda were imposed by the UN in 1999 after Osama bin Laden was accused in absentia of involvement bombing the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.

In January 2003, additions were made to the sanctions and they were extended to cover former Taliban leaders and people and organizations linked to them.